Massachusetts has confirmed another bald eagle has died because it ingested rodent poison — this time, it was an eaglet.
The young bird was spotted in distress in an undisclosed community in Middlesex County. After being admitted to the Tufts Wildlife Clinic at Cummings Veterinary Medical Center at Tufts University in North Grafton, the eaglet died.
A necropsy and toxicology results indicate that second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides were to blame.
“Not only raptors, but many other kinds of wildlife have been the victims of unintentional rodenticide poisoning,” said Andrew Vitz, state ornithologist for Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife in a statement.
“Secondary exposure to rodenticides has been documented in other animals such as foxes, bobcats and coyotes.”
The first confirmed bald eagle death due to rodenticide in Massachusetts occurred earlier this year, and concerned a female bird in a nest on the Charles River in Middlesex County.