Widespread anticoagulant poison exposure in predators in a rapidly growing African city

This study from the Urban Caracal Project documented extensive exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides among caracals and other predators in and around Cape Town, South Africa. Screening showed that most sampled caracals carried residues of multiple compounds, demonstrating that the rodenticide-contamination problem long documented in North American urban felids extends to a major African city. The authors linked exposure to proximity to urban and agricultural land where rodent control is intensive, raising concern for the health of a charismatic wild cat persisting at the city edge. The work globalised the anticoagulant-poisoning narrative and underpinned advocacy for safer pest control on the Cape Peninsula.