Wildlife Poisoning Research UK
Welcome
Thank you for visiting the Wildlife Poisoning Research UK (WPRUK) site. We hope you find it informative.
The purpose of this site
Our intention in managing this site is to provide information and data on the poisoning of wildlife and domestic animals (livestock and pets) in the United Kingdom. We are defining poisoning as the direct impact of toxic substances on wildlife, both vertebrate (such as birds and mammals) and invertebrate (such as insects) species and domestic animals. We are including a range of chemicals within our category of “toxic substances”, such as pesticides, biocides, veterinary products, household medicines, household chemicals and “laboratory” chemicals. Well known examples of such substances are as follows:
- pesticide – the weed killer glyphosate
- biocide – the rat poison brodifacoum
- veterinary product – the pet flea treatment fipronil
- human medicine – pain killer paracetamol
- household chemical – car antifreeze product ethyl glycol
- laboratory chemical – strychnine
We are not looking at sublethal impacts of toxins or the long-term impact of toxins on ecological systems. However, we note that both these issues are extremely important. For example, there are growing concerns about the potential damage of neonicotinoid insecticides and the weedkiller glyphosate on ecological systems, which might be impacting on long term insect health and reproduction. Such long-term ecological issues will not be the focus of this site.
We intend to present data from existing schemes and projects in a manner which may be more accessible to the general public, as well as providing discussion papers on relevant issues. We will also present case studies of specific poisoning incidents to show how individual animals and birds were exposed to toxins.
We also hope to build up a reference source of scientific papers and other relevant documents for use by others interested in this field. We are committed to ensuring that all data obtained on wildlife poisoning is preserved and accessible to the public, and not destroyed by government agencies. This is data collected at the tax payers’ expense – it should be the public’s property, and not disposed of by public bodies ignorant of its scientific value and only concerned with blinkered budgets.
What this site is not!
This site is not a campaigning blog! For those interesting in campaigning about poisoning and wildlife protection issues there are a number of excellent websites, organisations and blogs, such as Raptor Persecution UK, Wild Justice and the RSPB. WPRUK is not affiliated to / controlled by any pressure group / vested interest / chemical company / government agency / countryside or field sports lobby.
Our intention is to present data and fact-based opinion. Of course, campaigning organisations and the media may wish to make use of this data and opinion.
An evolving site
We hope to add reports, discussion documents and reference material as the site develops. This is very much “work in progress”.
Contacting us
If you would like to discuss poisoning issues with WPRUK please use our email contact. We can not guarantee to respond to all enquiries and will not engage in discussing any issues outside our remit. If questions are raised which may be on issues which other blog readers might be interested in, we will consider posting our response on the WPRUK site. We will not make any reference to identify the person making the enquiry.
Wildlife Poisoning Research UK
Wildlife Poisoning Research UK
Wildlife Poisoning Research UK 