SACRAMENTO, Calif.— California Sen. Henry Stern (D-Canoga Park) and Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) will hold a press conference at 9 a.m. Tuesday to discuss AB 1788, their co-authored legislation to protect wildlife from rat poisons.

The press conference will precede a Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee hearing on the bill, the California Ecosystems Protection Act. The Act would prohibit most uses of the highly toxic rat poisons responsible for the poisoning and contamination of mountain lions, bobcats, hawks and other wildlife that prey on poisoned rats and animals that have consumed the rats.

The bill comes on the heels of the death of P-47, a three-year-old mountain lion living in the Santa Monica Mountains that was found with six different anticoagulants used in rat poisons in his system.

What: Press conference on bill to protect wildlife from rat poisons

When: 9 a.m. Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Where: California State Capitol – South Steps; 10th and N St., Sacramento, CA 95814

Background: Some of California’s most iconic wildlife is being decimated by certain types of rat poisons known as second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides. While the purpose of such poisons is to control rat populations, the poisons’ high toxicity and persistence can result in the contamination of many other animals, including owls, raptors, bobcats and mountain lions. A recent state analysis found the super-toxic rodenticides in more than 85 percent of tested mountain lions, bobcats and endangered Pacific fishers.

AB 1788, cosponsored by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the Center for Biological Diversity and Raptors are the Solution, would ban use of the highly toxic poisons. It would also ban use of harmful, but less lethal “first-generation anticoagulants” on all state-owned lands. The bill provides for use of these products for agricultural purposes and during public health emergencies.