I MOVED to a house in Old New Germany Road on the edge of the Palmiet Nature Reserve in 2002.
In those days I often heard Spotted Eagle Owls and Wood Owls calling at night and even saw them at times.
Coming home at night one would often see the Spotted Eagle Owl in the car’s headlights sitting in the road. Sadly this is no longer the case. I haven’t heard or seen an owl for years and even the Sparrowhawks have diminished.
My theory is that this is due to people using Rattex to kill unwanted rodents which are in turn being caught by birds of prey who are killed from secondary poisoning.
When a rodent eats Rattex they do not die immediately. Instead they crawl around very slowly for a day or two which makes them easy prey for the birds.
If one uses Racumin instead, it greatly reduces the risk of secondary poisoning and is just as effective.
I have been to our local supermarket to ask them to stock Racumin as opposed to Rattex and maybe put up an information poster, but to no avail. They still only stock Rattex even though they are right on the edge of the reserve themselves.
I urge everyone to switch to Racumin and ask their supermarkets to stock it and put up information posters.
At the moment I know it is available at Builders Express and Grovida.
Come on guys! Let’s bring back the owls.
Margie Forbes
Westville
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