Mum putting rat poison down in her garden - do others see this as cruel or unethical or is it just me?

[GardenRat]

My mum has been having a problem with rats being present in her back garden. She is dealing with it by putting rat poison in bait boxes around the garden. I don’t agree with her on this as I understand that rats die a slow and agonising death from the effects of the poison. Also, if any other animal (including birds) was to eat the rat poison itself, or try to eat a rat that has died from poisoning, then that other animal could also potentially become very ill or die. Her position is that she doesn’t care about that, and that using rat poison is the only realistic option she has to dissuade the rodents from entering her house. What are your thoughts on the matter MN?

Yes it's cruel and wtf is the problem with a rat being in the garden? Clear away any food sources and they'll move.

Your view is clear. Had you had rats in your house you might think differently, esp if they cause fires or electrical shorts because they eat the wiring. I do not like poison and prefer humane trapping - but that mainly shifts the problem elsewhere.
I know that I am within 30 feet of a rat as I sit here. We all are. I do not want them in my house.

Rats are very clever.
I borrowed a workshop on a farm for a week and was told “ leave no food out overnight “

I had my coffee and hot choc powder hanging up high
Next morning a hole 🕳 had been nibbled in the hot choc box and bag and all gone.

When the rats have pissed all over your kitchen worktops as they search for food, when they chew through electrical cables thus rendering the whole house subject to electrical fires and when they scurry across your sleeping baby in its cot, you might feel differently.
Rats carry diseases such as weil’s disease, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome and salmonella. They breed quickly and can cause damage and kill wildlife.

I have been very clear.
In a house and/or causing major issues outside then I would totally understand someone wanting to get rid of them.
I don't subscribe to the "saw one rat in my garden and now we are all going to die" hysteria though.

I have fought a two year battle with rats getting in the loft so have no compulsion about killing them. We used poison at first and then traps.
However you can't eliminate the rat population outside and I wouldn't bother just putting bait traps randomly in the garden unless they were at a known access point to a building.

Totally incorrect. The Plague was spread by human fleas and lice.
Rats living outside I'm fine with, there are thousands out there. If they are outside then they are not inside. Put mesh on any air bricks so they can't get in under your floorboards.
Live and let live I say. The Plague? Ridiculous.

It's okay, you don't need to educate me as though I'm stupid.
I know full well what rats are capable of - I'm almost 48 years old and my grandad, dad and uncle all owned land and had rats many times and my dad also had a rat infestation in his house at one point and I also tend not to post about things I'm ignorant of.
Nowhere in my comment did I show any ignorance of what rats are capable of - I actually said that I wouldn't like an infestation.
My comment was purely about someone saying that they didn't "care" about rats "having an agonising death" and I simply can't understand not "caring" about another living, sentient being dying a slow, "agonising" death. Call me a wimp, but I have empathy for all living things.
Yet you've chosen to ignore that statement and turn it into making out as though I don't know what rats (and many, many other forms of wildlife) do.

Have you ever had rats?
We had an infestation in the house poison was the only thing thst worked
They were vile i could hear them scratching in the walls .

After seeing a rat die from eating rat poison, I think it’s cruel and unethical. Some people just don’t see it that way though

Agreed.

It kills the rat, but also any cats, owls or foxes too. So yes, it is highly unethical

No I don't as I had a serious infestation in the house and it was awful .

Rats wandering in the garden in daylight are very soon going to be rats in your house . I love rats , we’ve had several pet rats but I’d be getting pest control in and if they said bait boxes then that’s what I’d do .

I used to see rats in my garden, then they managed to make their way into my house! We had to use poison. It chewed up through the floor boards and under my stairs. You could hear it in the evening trying to chew new holes. I now have bait boxes that I will use as I don't want to go through that hell again. I also have 2 dogs, 1 being a Jack Russell and it still didn't deter them

Exactly I can't believe people are thinking it's ok to have rats in your garden.
Weils disease and others can be fatal not just a wee bit unwell.

Op maybe contact Environmental Health get the rats dealt with professionally. But definitely get them dealt with your mums Health and well being is important

It’s a condition of our allotment that we have to have filled bait boxes. So I’m fine with it.
Before it was brought in, we have all our chicks killed and left by rats. Definitely rats as they tried to pull into their tunnels.
Don’t like grey squirrels either, flying rats.

I've been unlucky enough to have several rat incursions into the house. and my last house too (both houses abut farmland so not totally surprising.)

Like many others, I felt terribly sorry for the rat we caused to die, when it was only being a rat and doing what they do, so to speak, but what's the alternative? It just isn't possible to allow them to be running around your kitchen all night gnawing stuff and defecating, and then thundering through the loft above our bedrooms at night (rats make a hell of a noise) plus the horrible shock of opening a door and seeing one running around the skirting board and darting under the oven.

But that doesn't stop me having empathy and thinking about the poor creature and being sorry it came to this.

In the garden? I'm not so sure it's ethical to try to kill a live creature which lives outside. It's only when they come inside and keep coming inside it's a problem, so for that reason I think your mum IBVU, not to mention cruel and illogical, to preemptively lay down poison in the garden.

We had a rat infestation in the house; we didn't see them in our living spaces but we heard them under the floorboards and in the chimney breasts and walls. At least one rat died somewhere and the smell was horrendous. I think it's likely they ate poison that had been left by someone. Either way, I would never use poison, as I wouldn't want to risk inflicting that smell on myself or on anyone else. We called in the council's pest control service and they said that all they would do is put down poison, as they don't have the resources to lay traps and check them regularly, but that's what they advised us to do. They also recommended a pest control specialist (paid for service) who advised us to install a device to block entry via the main sewage pipe, and also identified another entry point which we blocked up. Once we'd block the entrance points we caught a lot of them in the traps and the problem hasn't repeated itself thank the lord.

Having rats in your garden is far from ideal. If they get in your houses then you’ll know about it so neat to deter any nests and move them along. Also they carry germs and spread disease if they live around the sewers so again not ideal.

If you’re that bothered, pay for her to use a more humane way then!

PixieMcGraw
You're wrong its totally true you need to go back to you're history class.Plus those who think Im talking about another Plague its an example FFS of how they spread diseases ! 🙄Also they do get into houses and hospitals

Rats won’t go into bait boxes.

If she has a problem she needs to get an expert out who will tether bait in inaccessible places. We lived near a pub and had that issue a few years ago!

Rats won’t go into bait boxes.
Not true. They won't go near anything unfamiliar but will definitely go into a bait box eventually as they become accustomed to it and can't resist the smell.

Having seen what the local cats do to the wildlife around here, I think that a bit of humane poison (as used by the professionals) is the least of nature's worries.

A rat falling quietly asleep somewhere pales into insignificance beside the mutilated birds and small animals that I find from time to time. Once there was a tiny fox cub. They are not always completely dead, the cats like to rip them apart then leave them to die.

Its not. It was fleas and lice that spread the Plague in the 1600's.
Of course some of those fleas may have lived on rats but they lived on other things too
Maybe go back to "you're" history class too