Dead owl found in Ahwatukee neighborhood, may have died from rat poison

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - Horned owls are the most common kind in Arizona, but local wildlife hospitals are seeing more and more coming in with rat poison, and now people see it in Phoenix neighborhoods too.

“I have become the owl lady of Ahwatukee,” Jan Radcliff said.

Radcliff loves protecting them, but two weeks ago, she came outside and found a dead owl on top of rocks in her front lawn.

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“She was absolutely perfect. She hadn’t been shot or injured,” said Radcliff. “The first thing I thought was poison.”

She took it to Liberty Wildlife Center, and while they couldn’t say for sure whether this owl was poisoned without an autopsy, they said this keeps happening.

Animal experts said homeowners use rodenticide to deal with roof rats, but owls eat rats and often are ingesting a deadly dose of second-hand poison.

Radcliff recently found three dead rats and said she knows the poison is being used nearby.

“This neighbor next door said that the HOA offered her poison when she complained about a rat problem,” said Radcliff.

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So she took matters into her own hands and made fliers of an owl that say, “Did you kill me?” in hopes her neighbors will stop using rodenticide, and protect our late night prowlers.

“The rats are definitely a problem. We all know that. But poison is not the answer,” said Radcliff.

Wildlife experts encourage the homeowner to use snap traps instead of rat poison. That way it doesn’t poison the owls or any other animals.