Anticoagulant rodenticide exposure and toxicosis in coyotes (Canis latrans) in the Denver Metropolitan Area

Abstract

Anticoagulant rodenticides are widely used in urban areas to control rodent pests and are responsible for secondary poisoning in many nontarget wildlife species. We tested the livers of five coyotes (Canis latrans) in the Denver Metropolitan Area, Colorado, US, for anticoagulant rodenticides. All five livers were positive for brodifacoum, with values ranging from 95 ppb to 320 ppb, and one liver was positive for bromadiolone, with a value of 885 ppb. Both of these rodenticides are second-generation anticoagulants, which are more potent and more likely to cause secondary poisoning than first-generation anticoagulants due to their accumulation and persistence in the liver. We concluded that exposure to these rodenticides may have caused the death of at least two of the five coyotes, and urban coyotes in our study area are commonly exposed to rodenticides.