WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The town officials last week announced a policy restricting the use on town property of a type of rodenticide that has been linked to die-off of non-rodent wildlife.

 

According to the policy posted on the town's website, the use of "second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides," commonly known as SGARs on town property will be prohibited as of Dec. 1.

 

An emergency waiver allowing use of SGARS can be granted by the town manager in the event of, "a significant rodent infestation of public health consequence that has already exhausted all workable less-toxic integrated pest and rodent management practices."

 

Otherwise, the ban will apply to all buildings, grounds, parks and open spaces owned by the town, including Williamstown Elementary School, which is owned by Williamstown and leased to the Mount Greylock Regional School District.

 

On Thursday, Mount Greylock Superintendent Joseph Bergeron said the district already has a practice of not using SGARs, instead practicing integrated pest management, at all three of its schools: WES, Mount Greylock Regional School and Lanesborough Elementary.

 

The announcement of the policy by Town Hall follows a conversation that began in April at the Select Board, when resident Leslie Gura raised the issue.

 

At the time, Gura told the Select Board that there was legislation in Boston to ban the use of SGARs throughout the commonwealth and asked that the board take a first step by implementing a bylaw to end their use on town-owned properties.

 

The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife advocates that all residents and building managers avoid the use of the SGAR class of rodent killers because the poison spreads from dead rats up the food chain with unintended consequences.

 

"Second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) prevent blood from clotting, causing fatal internal hemorrhage," the Fisheries and Wildlife website explains. "SGARs can poison wildlife in two ways: 1) primary poisoning when a non-targeted animal eats the bait and dies several days later, or 2) secondary poisoning when a predator or scavenger eats prey that has eaten the poisoned bait.

 

"Anticoagulants bioaccumulate, or build up over time, in animals that consume large quantities of rodents that have consumed these poisons. Secondary poisoning has been documented in birds of prey like eagles, hawks, and owls, as well as mammals like foxes, fishers, bobcats, and coyotes."

 

SGARs were shown to have caused the deaths of two bald eagles in the commonwealth in 2021 and to have contributed to the death of at least one other bald eagle in 2023, the state agency says.