A bald eagle found on Cape Cod died, and rat poison could've contributed
A female bald eagle was found “seriously injured” in a Cape Cod backyard in late October, and the bird had to be euthanized because of the severity of the injuries, according to the Cape Wildlife Center, where it was brought.
Now officials are testing it to see if rat poison was a contributing factor.
While the eagle had a “ruptured eye” and a “puncture wound,” a test found that its blood took longer than normal to clot, “raising concern about possible anticoagulant rodenticide exposure,” Katie Gronendyke, a spokeswoman for the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said in an email to Boston.com.
A sample of the eagle’s liver tissue was sent away to a lab to see if rat poison contributed to its death, she said. The results haven’t come in yet.
Exposure to rat poison “has become a very common problem” for wildlife, according to the center.
https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2018/11/09/cape-cod-injured-bald-eagle-euthanized