What happens to the wild boars of California (United States)? For the past few months, hunters have continued to come across neon blue animals, which recently pushed the Federal Fisheries and Wildlife Department (CDFW) to launch an alert, reports the Los Angeles Times.
The reports began last March. The manager of a company specializing in wildlife regulation was one of the first to shoot down a boar with blue flesh. “I’m not talking about a light blue,” he insists. “I speak of a fluorescent blue, a blueberry blue. It’s just crazy. »»
A blue rodenticide
According to the first elements, the phenomenon could be caused by Diphacinone, a blue anticoagulant pesticide used to kill rodents. “Wildlife can be inadvertently exposed to rodenticides by eating bait or other animals that have ingested the product,” recalls the CDFW.
Several wild boars were indeed found near traps, or seen trying to reach the poison to eat it. The Suidés are not the only ones to be interested in the Diphacinone, which worries both hunters, authorities and environmental defenders.
Diphacinone is prohibited in California, unless you are installed by a certified technician, a government agency or on agricultural sites. As a precaution, the CDFW invites hunters to no longer consume the meat of the slaughtered game. If several ingestions are necessary for the poison to become dangerous, rodenticide can stay in the body for a long time and cause symptoms such as lethargy or concentration problems.