anticoagulants

Introduced house mice are widespread in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and they have significant impacts on native wildlife. The most common toxins for controlling rodents are anticoagulant rodenticides (AR). Even though AR are an efficient tool, resistance to these substances in rodent populations has been detected in many countries. This phenomenon represents a major factor in reducing the success of pest management, and it is mostly related to missense mutations in the VKORC1 gene.

In Britain, the use of "second-generation'' rodenticides has become widespread on agricultural premises. The high toxicity and relatively long half-lives of these compounds has raised concerns over potential secondary exposure and poisoning of non-target predators. Over the last 15 years, exposure has been extensively documented in the barn owl Tyto alba but relatively little is known about mammalian terrestrial predators.