In California, anticoagulant rodenticides are considered to be of high regulatory concern and are considered high-risk for wildlife. The current monitoring system that provides information on rodenticide exposure to the Department has a number of limitations. The proposed system of monitoring will provide DPR with an index of the rate of exposure over time from the proportion of positive animals out of the total number of animals tested from wild populations.

 

This project is monitoring the exposure and fate of populations of coyotes in Southern California at the Wildland-Urban Interface with GPS collars and collecting blood, scat and hair samples, in collared coyote territories. Scat and hair samples are being collected to determine exposure. Hair can potentially reveal longer-term exposure profiles, while feces will provide a snapshot of more recent exposure.

​

For more information on where the collared coyotes are, check out the map below.