Our mission at WISDOM Good Works is not only to research, implement, and promote fertility-control technology as a non-lethal alternative for animal population control, but also to be an advocate for reducing the use of poison in our ecosystem.

Which is why we are so proud that our organization is one of 73 like-minded conservation and animal welfare groups supporting AB1322, a bill being considered now in the California State Assembly that would extend the existing moratorium on “second generation” anticoagulant rodenticides to include the deadly “first generation” anticoagulant diphacinone.

The bill was introduced by California Assemblymember Laura Friedman and is sponsored by Raptors Are The Solution and the Center for Biological Diversity, whose position papers and expertise helped craft the legislation.

Among the other signers on the letter advocating passage of the bill are Peta, the Humane Society of the United States, the Conservation Society of California, and dozens of other local, state, national and international groups. (In case you are looking for WISDOM in the sea of beautiful logos below, we are on the far left, fourth one down.)

A little background on why this legislation is needed.

As many of you know, we supported and testified before the California Legislature on behalf of the California Ecosystems Protection Act, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law in 2020. That legislation targeted second-generation poisons, those anticoagulants that were developed beginning in the 1970s to be more effective in killing rodents than first generation poisons like diphacinone.

It made sense to go after the newer poisons first since they were more deadly and tended to remain in animal tissues longer than first-generation poisons. As the Environmental Protection Agency notes on its website: “These properties mean that second-generation products pose greater risks to nontarget species that might feed on bait only once or that might feed upon animals that have eaten the bait.”

Now it’s time to start taking on the first-generation poisons that wreak havoc on our ecosystems. According to California’s Department of Pesticide Regulation, 38 non-target species, such as eagles, hawks, falcons, bobcats, mountain lions and imperiled species such as the San Joaquin kit fox and California condor have been poisoned, not to mention the threat to pets, domestic animals and even children.

Our group letter to the California Legislature notes that alternatives to deal with rodent infestations could include traps and less toxic rodenticides. We at WISDOM, of course, would take this a step farther and advocate for a totally non-lethal alternative, such as fertility control.

Right now, AB1322 has been referred to the Appropriations Committee. We’ll keep you in the know about progress for this important piece of legislation and our work advocating for the elimination of poison around the world.