Of 303 dead U.S. eagles examined between 2014 and 2018, 109 (82 percent) had detectable levels of rat poison, and 12 (4 percent) had died as a result, suggesting toxin exposure may be widespread.

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Article Title: “Anticoagulant rodenticide exposure and toxicosis in bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) in the United States”

Funding: We are grateful for funding provided by member state wildlife management agencies of SCWDS in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia provided by the Federal Aid to Wildlife Restoration Act (50 Stat.917). Further, we thank our partnering federal agencies, including the United States Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuge System, United States Department of Interior (F15PX01848) and the United States Geological Survey Ecosystems Mission Area, United States Department of Interior (G18AC00319). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and data analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Article URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0246134

Source: 82% of dead US eagles studied in 2014-18 had rat poison in their systems