Anticoagulant rodenticides: an ignored threat to birds of prey in Argentina and other South American countries

In Argentina, the risk that anticoagulant rodenticides could pose to local birds of prey was initially recognized in the 1980s. Unfortunately, 40 years after this first warning sign, anticoagulant rodenticides are still widely used in the country and throughout South America, without having studied the environmental problem that these products may cause. Here we present a practical and comprehensive review on anticoagulant rodenticides and their poisoning in birds of prey. We discuss their impact, both on individuals and their populations, the main aspects related to the management of intoxicated animals, and the need for diagnostic capacity in the region. The information collected here provides relevant, up-to-date, and accessible content necessary to address the study of this threat to the conservation of birds of prey in Argentina and other South American countries. At the same time, we hope that it will promote research on the subject that will allow the necessary steps to be taken to assess and mitigate the risk that the use of anticoagulant rodenticides may have on birds of prey and other wildlife.