Please stop using rat poison in our neighborhood.

You may think you are doing us a favor by trying to exterminate them, but you are causing way more problems that you are fixing. Rats are fast becoming immune to its effect, and are learning not to eat it, but other wildlife get into it; primarily the birds.

We have a water feature on our property that attracts the dying animals. Let me tell you — it is not fun watching a bird die. It can take several days during which they stay by our water drinking because they are slowly bleeding to death internally. We can walk up to them because they are in so much misery, their little eyes pleading with us to help them.

I don’t have the ability to put them out of their misery, but I check on them for the 2-3 days it takes for them to die, then I dispose of their bodies.

It is a death I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

Clean up your property, get rid of rat nesting areas, and don’t leave food stuff around for them to get to. Leave the coyotes along and nature will take care of keeping the rat population down.

And by the way, in the 10 years we’ve been here we have only had two rats dying by our water, but dozens of doves and quail.

Lois Schepler