GPL is pleased to welcome Heather Packard, Mass Audubon's community organizer, to the Community Meeting Room for the kickoff event of the Greenfield Rescue Raptors and Wildlife from Rodenticides.

Hawks, owls, eagles, foxes and other predators play a critical role in keeping ecosystems in balance and controlling rodent populations. But the increased use of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) poses a growing threat to wildlife, and these animals are being poisoned at alarming rates simply for doing what nature intended. The impacts of anticoagulant rodenticides extend far beyond the rodents that are the main prey for so many wildlife species; these highly toxic and persistent chemicals are also killing non-targeted wildlife species, and even pets, and they have now become widespread in the wildlife food chain. But Massachusetts Audubon is spearheading a growing movement to protect raptors and other wildlife from deadly rodent poisons, and many communities in Massachusetts have successfully enacted regulations to restrict or prohibit their use.

Come learn about the dangers of SGARs, what are the alternatives, how you can get involved to restrict the use of these poisons in your community, and what you can do to help move legislation forward to end the use of anticoagulant rodenticides in Massachusetts. Learn about how Mass Audubon can help citizens and community leaders in Greenfield and Franklin County take action and hear about the bills that have been introduced at the state level.

For more information, contact Martha Rullman, mrullman@hughes.net, (413) 768-7156.