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| Photo by USFS Region 5 |
Recent studies on dead fishers found in forests in Humboldt County and near Yosemite National Park indicate the animals were exposed to commercial rodenticides. While it's not uncommon to find traces of anticoagulant rodenticide in animals that live in urban and agricultural settings, researchers were surprised to find it in this secretive forest carnivore.
However, more and more, our forests and public lands are being used to illegally cultivate marijuana, and it's taking a toll on wildlife. Check out the PBS NewsHour report on illegal pot farms in California.
Please read the full report on the fisher deaths, HERE.
Looks like the mexicans are using the rodenticide as a weird fertilizer. Damn. No wonder California weed isn't any good, strange chemicals in the soil. Just another reason we need Federal approval for legitimate growers to grow additive free medicinal marijuana for those that have the demand for it, which isn't going away, only increasing. Regulation and federal legalization would stop the bootlegger and the Natl For. invasions. We have the pine marten, not many, and fewer more when this activity reaches eastern national forests. You bust them hard there, then they come here. If we boost the supply of normal pot growers, for those that have the demand, and it is legal for everyone to grow, then the street price drops accordingly and there would be no cost advantage to using remote forest land. The fisher would be most grateful. Call up JT Eaton, maybe they would be interested in knowing about the abuse of their product and help monitor point sales for their legitimate use customers. If they don't know about this, they can't help. Surely, they are not driven by profit alone and have some sense of responsibility to the environment and they probably never in their wildest dreams ever considered this type of application of their product. I feel sad for the fishers and martens.
ReplyDeleteThe rodenticide is not being used as a fertilizer, but to prevent rodents from eating the plants.
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