🔵 Is your council killing owls?

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🐀 This rat poison is wreaking havoc on Australian ecosystems, so why are North Shore councils still using it?

Despite being legal in Australia, SGAR poisons can kill native wildlife by spreading through food chains.

In the pursuit of eliminating rats from our urban areas, local councils may be inadvertently poisoning and killing owls, birds, possums and lizards on the North Shore.

Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticide (SGAR) is a type of rat poison readily available at retailers such as Woolworths and Bunnings.

Currently, multiple councils on and around the North Shore — such as Ku-ring-gai and North Sydney — use SGAR as part of their rodent control program.

While Ku-ring-gai Council says it uses the substance “very sparingly” and “always in locations that are inaccessible to other animals”, it is not wildlife consuming the poison at the source that is the issue, but poisons entering the larger food chain.

Zoologist Dr Renae Charalambous told the Lorikeet rats are a “common food source” for many native species.

How does it kill? SGAR causes internal bleeding and it takes a number of days for rodents to die, during which time they become easy targets for predators, and this leads to the poison spreading through the food chain.

Dr Charalambous says this kills native wildlife, predominantly birds like tawny frogmouths, powerful owls, magpies and kookaburras, but also marsupials and reptiles.

A 2021 study from Birdlife Australia analysing the livers of dead powerful owls found that 37 of 38 samples contained an anticoagulant rodenticide (AR).

Read the full piece here, or watch our video explainer below.

🏥 Heat is Australia’s deadliest climate threat, emergency room doctor warns

During the Black Summer of 2019-20, Emergency Department doctor Dr Lai Heng Foong was met by patients who were struggling to breathe.

“They come in, they can't breathe. It's pretty visceral when you see someone who can't breathe,” she tells the Lorikeet.

The woeful air quality caused by plumes of smoke led to “a lot more” people with asthma and other respiratory illnesses seeking hospital care.

With Australia experiencing temperatures of 40C and higher over the weekend, Foong believes that the effect of heat on our community — from dehydration and fainting to breathing difficulties and chest pain — will only increase as the impact of climate is more keenly felt.

Read the full piece here, or watch our interview with Dr Foong below.

📈 North Sydney Council limbers up for another crack at a serious rate hike

North Sydney Council will once again seek a special rate hike, this time asking for an increase of 52 percent over a period of three years.

What happened: A report written by council CEO Therese Cole, has recommended council rates be increased by 23 percent, 14 percent and 8 percent over the next three financial years. When compounded, this would equate to a 52 percent rise from the current rates.

Councillors will convene next Monday to debate whether to pursue this increase.

Read the full piece here.