Frequently Asked Questions - second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs).
Last updated 29 August 2026.
Rats and mice usually enter homes in late Autumn and Winter in search of shelter, warmth and food. Rats can fit through a gap the size of a 20-cent coin and mice, the size of a pencil end. This means that most homes will at some point experience unwanted visitors in the cooler seasons. Most rodent problems can be prevented without using any poison at all, and there are many steps you can take that will reduce the likelihood of an infestation taking hold. These include: keep vegetation trimmed back from the roofline of your home, stack firewood, compost bins and garden debris away from your home, keep household waste and pet food in sealed containers indoors, clean up any uneaten pet food outside after every meal, and seal entry points including gaps around pipes, cables, and vents entering the roof or walls.
If your infestation is persistent, consider contracting a licenced pest controller that utilises Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Instead of jumping straight to chemical sprays or poisons, IPM combines multiple prevention steps like cleaning up food sources, fixing physical barriers, tracking pest numbers, and using chemicals only as a last resort. They also have access to other non-SGAR poisons that are not available to the public. If you are unsure, ask your contractor what products they use and why. A good contractor will welcome this question and provide suitable, safe and long-term alternatives. Remember, if the poisons you deploy kill owls, your next rodent outbreak will likely be worse. That is, the very species harmed by secondary poisoning are some of the most powerful natural rodent controllers. A single barn owl can eat over one hundred mice in just one month. Talk to your local council about the importance of keeping old-growth trees, and talk to research groups that install nest boxes to encourage owl breeding events. The more our ecosystem supports owls, raptors and other birds of prey, the fewer mice there will be.
After many years of public pressure from BirdLife Australia and other community and environment groups, the federal regulator for pesticides, Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), held a federal review into the use and regulation of rodent poisons in Australia. While the initial review acknowledged the “unacceptable risk” second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) pose to our wildlife, it initially failed to implement meaningful recommendations, specifically addressing secondary poisoning of native wildlife. The initial reforms were met with widespread public outcry leading to over 10,000 submissions to the APVMA from BirdLife Australia supporters alone – and this time, they listened. Following these submissions, the APVMA finally made a landmark decision. They recommended removing the most dangerous rat poisons from retail shelves.
The renewed recommendations seek to have SGARs reclassified as Restricted Chemical Products (RCPs), meaning any products containing the poisons would be removed from public sale. Under these strict new conditions, if the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry (DAFF) accept the APVMA’s certification of SGARs being RCPs, SGARs will be restricted to licenced operators only. If this happens, only individuals with specific training or qualifications can legally purchase, handle and use SGAR products. From March 2026, the APVMA suspended SGAR registrations for one year while DAFF and the states determine how an RCP declaration on SGARs would operate. During this time, SGAR products cannot be manufactured or imported into Australia.
Common rat baits containing brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difenacoum, difethialone or flocoumafen are second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs). While they are usually labelled ‘single dose’ or ‘one feed kills’, they take up to 3 weeks to kill the rodent (average 9 days). Poisoned rodents bleed internally, become disoriented, wander around during the daytime, and have slow reaction times. All these biological factors render them easy prey- much easier than healthy rodents. These active chemical ingredients persist in animal tissue (typically the liver) for months and are the distinct type that will be restricted to licensed professionals by March next year. Some SGAR chemicals have a half-life of 350 days. This means 100g of bait in an animal’s body (alive or dead) will still be 25g worth in 700 days (2 years later). It’s no wonder these poisons are showing up all over the environment and throughout the entire food chain.
Snap traps and electronic traps instantly kill rodents without the use of chemicals and should be used as the first preferred method (after prevention) for your home. Poison as a rodent control measure should only be used as a last resort. Other poisons that are not anticoagulants such as Ratsak Naturals (salt-based) are also safer for non-target species. Look for ‘salt’ (or if you must, ‘warfarin’) on packets as the active ingredient, as these are generally much safer for wildlife than SGAR poisons. Poisons classed as first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (FGARs), such as those with the active ingredient warfarin, have a much lower secondary poisoning risk because they remain in the tissue of rodents for significantly less time than SGAR poisons (up to 60 days compared to 350 days).
It’s a tough world out there for wildlife, having to find their food every day, especially in fragmented landscapes with increasing restrictions on movement. A free protein meal is a gift that not many species will turn down. SGARs are intended for rodents, but are frequently consumed directly by slugs, centipedes, cockroaches, possums and native rodents. Predation of any of these animals by predators such as frogs, lizards, frogmouths, magpies, owls, and even pets.
Furthermore, there are 57 species of native rodents, 20 of which are threatened with extinction, including carnivorous marsupials like phascogales, that can readily enter bait boxes. These native rodents become carriers, and every animal that consumes them becomes poisoned too. An owl may not die from one poisoned mouse, but when they consume multiple poisoned meals, they become progressing impaired, more likely to die from car impact, or succumb when the dosage is lethal. In one study, 94% of dead Masked Owls tested were detected with SGARs in their bodies (likely toxic liver SGAR concentrations were present in nine (53%)), and a more recent study in review with a scientific journal shows 100% of 17 dead Masked Owls had toxic levels of SGARs in them.
Birds poisoned by rodenticides like SGARs become slow, lethargic, unenergetic, and may even start bleeding from the mouth and eyes. Vets that we work with have explained the anguish in treating birds that present with SGAR poisoning. Some recover with careful, time-consuming treatment, but many of them don’t. Some patients may have consumed multiple mice, all poisoned by SGARs, and in this case the prognosis is not good. Another consequence of poisoning is that birds become poor flyers and thus more likely to be hit by cars or injured in collisions with transmission lines or buildings. Healthy birds are excellent at navigating their surroundings but the effects of poisoning slow and disorientate them, which increases their injury and death rate significantly.
If you suspect a bird (or other wildlife/pets) has ingested SGARs, please take them to a vet clinic. Alternatively, for wildlife you can contact your local wildlife rescue organisation for assistance. If you’re unsure who to call, Wildlife Rescue Australia Call Centre (1300 596 457) operates an Australia-wide, 24-hour rescue call centre, answering within 25 seconds, taking calls reporting sick, injured or orphaned animals.
As Australia transitions away from long-lasting rat poisons, and as more people realise the secondary harm caused to native birds, there may be unused poisons that people or retailers wish to dispose of. In many cases, retailers can return unopened products to suppliers who will be able to offer safer and legal alternatives to restock their shelves. It’s crucial that products are not thrown into bins, as bins and landfills are insecure, and the chemicals in SGARs can remain active for up to 350 days. Rats, mice, and cockroaches are attracted to waste and may consume baits, even if they are sealed. This could continue the cycle of secondary poisoning well after the restriction deadline. If you have SGAR products in your home, we strongly encourage you to contact your local council about chemical clean up days. Sustainability Victoria runs a program called Detox Your Home which mentions rat bait specifically as something you can safely dispose of.
It would be fantastic if we could cease the use of SGARs completely, however it is our assessment this would not be a tenable option for governments or industry. There may be tightly controlled, exceptional circumstances, including some emergency or conservation contexts, where short-term, pulse-baiting SGAR use by trained professionals is considered necessary. More on this below.
Islands globally make up just 3% of the land area but contain 20% the species and 50% of endangered species. With 80% of island extinctions are caused by feral mammals, such as invasive rodents, it’s imperative to get eradication done rapidly and thoroughly. If helicopter baiting on remote islands misses just one breeding pair of rodents, the next year there could be thousands of individuals again, costing nearly $1M to redeploy poison on the island. Due to the remoteness and vastness, with few people (if any) living on these islands, finishing the job in one go is critical. Thus, we acknowledge that invasive rodent eradication on islands, within fenced reserves, and in other closed conservation sites are still necessary and justified short-term uses of SGARs.
These programs are conducted under formal government oversight, typically involving two carefully timed bait applications administered weeks apart, use GPS-guided aerial or ground broadcast to achieve comprehensive coverage, require prior peer-reviewed feasibility assessments and environmental risk assessments and include post-operation biosecurity surveillance and non-target species monitoring (Broome et al. 2017a; 2017b). Australia has its own national policy context for these programs: exotic rodents on Australian islands are listed as a Key Threatening Process under the EPBC Act and the Commonwealth’s Threat Abatement Plan for exotic rodents on offshore islands provides a framework specifically for SGARs (particularly brodifacoum) use for eradication purposes (Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2009).
The Lord Howe Island Rodent Eradication Project, completed under NSW Government oversight and confirmed successful in 2023, stands as a recent and significant Australian example of such a program conducted to professional standards, with extensive environmental and community safeguards (Lord Howe Island Board, 2025).
BirdLife Australia’s position is that SGARs may sometimes be necessary during mouse plagues (> 800 mice per ha), however, a strong case must first be made before deployment should be allowed to begin. For example, part of an emergency-permit-based system should be the requirement first show that non-bioaccumulating, non-SGAR options (e.g. cholecalciferol) have first been attempted without success. These include lower-risk chemical options such as first-generation anticoagulants, zinc phosphide, cholecalciferol and/or automatically resetting electronic (mechanical) traps before escalating to SGARs. SGARs need to be a genuine last resort and used far less routinely than the current practice. Another requirement should be that IPM has been demonstrated, such as structural exclusion and proofing, waste and feed management to reduce attractants, population monitoring before any chemical intervention.
Education is key. So much of the damage from SGARs is due to misinformation or lack of awareness about the unintended harms they cause. It is fair to expect that normal use of easily available household products will not inadvertently harm our wildlife. This is why BirdLife campaigned hard for a very long time to end the public sale of SGAR poisons. Because the responsibility shouldn’t be entirely on the public to ensure safe products are being used. Having a conversation with a family member, a child’s school, or a local business can go a long way to changing the habits that indirectly perpetuate harm to wildlife.
On our website you can access helpful brochures that explain the impacts of SGARs, including the specific products to avoid in stores. Consider downloading and printing them to hand them out within your community. If you represent a Local Government Area or work in a veterinary practice, you can access specific information for your constituents, or get in touch to organise printing and distribution through BirdLife Australia.
For many years, BirdLife has maintained consistent pressure on retailers to act independently of a federal outcome on SGARs. Our petition directed at Bunnings collected over 40,000 signatures from BirdLife supporters throughout the duration of the campaign; and in March 2026, they became the first major retailer to announce their commitment to removing SGARs from retail shelves ahead of the phase out timeline. Shortly after this announcement, Coles commenced an immediate withdrawal of SGAR products. IGA and Mitre 10 committed to removing SGARs by 30 June, 10 months ahead of the regulator’s deadline. Amazon Australia has removed SGARs from their online stores, and Woolworths will no longer sell them from the end of July. Whilst this is a significant step from major retailers, there are still many hardware and garden supply stores that may continue to sell SGARs until the ban is legally enforced from March 2027 (if DAFF accepts APVMA’s certification that SGARs should not be available at retailers). You can help by educating these stores on the phase out timeline and the impact on wildlife they are likely having unless they act without delay. For example, their removal of SGARs from the shelves could mean the difference of whether owls that have ingested a sublethal dose survive or die due to more poisoning accumulating in their bodies.
We are so close to SGARs being permanently removed from public sale. To make this restriction a reality, the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) must accept and endorse the recommendation put forward by the APVMA. It is expected that the Minister will take the final step before March, 2027. Before then, the specific access and licensing conditions will need to be set by each state and territory under their own control-of-use legislation – not by the Minister federally.
To adequately halt the devastating impact of SGARs on Australian wildlife, we need state and territory governments to create and deliver a strict, permit-based system for rare SGAR use in extreme situations, not everyday use, by licenced and trained professionals. If implemented correctly, this reform will mark one of the biggest conservation wins for Australian wildlife in recent years. You can help make this happen by writing to the Minister using our online tool.
The APVMA designed the one-year suspension explicitly as an interim measure to allow the RCP declaration process to progress. What happens at expiry depends on what DAFF and the states and territories decide during that process to do. During this time, they will be deciding what an RCP framework looks like, and whether permit-based systems will be in place across Australia for SGAR use within the pest-control industry. In the best case scenario, the RCP recommendation is endorsed by DAFF before March 2027. The suspension would then be superseded by the RCP framework and access to SGARs would be governed by authorised-user licensing under state and territory control-of-use regulations.
Behind the scenes our team is busy working hard, doing the following:
In June, our scientists made a 17-page submission to DAFF, detailing why the department needs to accept the APVMA recommendations. Our submission aims to influence (in a heavily restricted manner) the conditions in which professionals can access rodenticides.
Native birds, wildlife and pets are at risk from the unregulated use of Second-generation Anticoagulant Rodenticide (SGAR) poisons in Australia. Urge Minister Collins and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to accept the APVMA’s recommendation to restrict these poisons and protect
We all want to keep our local wildlife and pets safe, but it can be hard to know what products you should buy or avoid when at the store. To help, we’ve created this helpful guide, so you can ensure you are being owl friendly at home.
