Research overview: rodenticide policy and safer pest control for urban predators

Documented anticoagulant exposure in Cape Town caracals has driven advocacy for safer rodent control, echoing regulatory debates in North America over the same compounds. This overview synthesises evidence on how second-generation anticoagulants move from poisoned rodents into predators, the population and immune consequences, and the policy and behavioural levers available, including product restrictions, integrated pest management, snap-trapping and public education. It examines the challenge of changing entrenched pest-control practices in homes, businesses and farms, and the role of research in motivating reform. The synthesis frames rodenticide policy as a shared, cross-continental front in protecting urban-edge felids.