Save Newbury Wildlife

05/06/2026

By 86.7 percent majority, Newbury voters PASSED our (re)submitted Citizen's Petition to craft a Home Rule Petition/legislation retricting SGARs on privately owned properties. Thank you, everyone!

05/02/2026

NEWBURY RESIDENTS: We hope you will all come to Annual Town Meeting this Tuesday, May 5 at 7pm in the Triton High School auditorium. We will be voting to renew our Home Rule Petition to ban dangerous SGARs in Newbury. Please vote YES on Article 17 to protect our wildlife, children and pets. We need your support. The state is very close to voting on our Home Rule petition, but it needs to be re-voted on by the town after two years.

You might be wondering how Newbury's SGAR ban is going on town property. Well, the police station had an infestation in cruisers (chewing wires). This was rightfully deemed a public health emergency and waivers were issued by the board of health. The pest company applied SGARs for the better part of a year. Still in spring 2026 with waivers long expired, 10 boxes surround the police and fire station. We can do better than this.

In fact, this is an example of the argument that many experts make. SGARs will kill rats over time, but SGARs will not result in a permanent solution. In the meantime, the half-poisoned rats are poisoning the rodent predators (hawks, eagles, owls, coyotes, foxes, etc.) With less predators, rats come again and the SGARs are needed and so on. You might say that SGARs are self perpetuating. It is no mystery why they are so popular with pest companies.

"The use of [second generation anticoagulant rodenticides] SGARs without management of trash and other food sources is 100% ineffective according to research." Dr. Robert M. Corrigan, Urban Rodentologist who wrote Boston Rat Action Plan (BRAP).

Photo Credit: Kristine A. Patti Photography

04/18/2026

NEWBURY RESIDENTS: If you would be willing to put this sign in your yard reminding people about the Town Meeting vote for Home Rule Petition banning rodenticide, please DM us.

04/16/2026

UPDATE: Massachusetts Residents, Contact your State Representative to co-sponsor amendment #322 in the FY27 House Budget. Amendment #322 contains the language from the original rodenticide bill. It restricts the use of anticoagulant rodenticides in Massachusetts, unless for emergency purposes. It is sponsored by Representative Hawkins.

Find your legislator here: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator?emci=cd1a4e16-ad39-f111-8ef2-000d3a14b640&emdi=26a4dc8e-763a-f111-8ef2-000d3a14b640&ceid=2078343.

Although we are not there yet, we are one step closer! Thanks to everyone who wrote to or called their legislators. Read more here:

On Wednesday evening, the Massachusetts State Senate unanimously adopted Amendment 3 to Mass Ready Act that would allow cities and towns across the state to restrict or ban deadly anticoagulant rodenticides.

04/14/2026

Want to understand why you shouldn't use anticoagulant rodenticides? Here you go...this lovely lady was noted hanging out in a yard in Lexington yesterday. She hadn't moved for an abnormally long time, and the home owner got concerned. She reached out to a wildlife rehabilitator (thank you NEW- ARC (USA)!), who couldn't take the bird, but posted the situation on a message board for rehabbers.
The picture you see is of when she came in to me at Heal Veterinary Clinic. She was alive at this point, but barely. She survived long enough for a very brief exam and then died. She had blood all over her body and coming out her mouth. The blood we drew still hasn't clotted 24 hours later. This is what rat poisons do to our wildlife. I am SO VERY tired of watching these majestic creatures die!
She was a young (1-4yr old) female Red Tailed Hawk. She could have eaten 1,500 rats a year. Multiplied by her 10-15 year life span that could have been as many as 21,000 rats. AND at age 3 she would have started breeding, and could have produced 2-3 offspring a year that would have also happily eaten rats. Instead however she is in my freezer waiting for a necropsy to positively show that she had rodenticides in her system...which is kind of a forgone conclusion. Tufts Wildlife Clinic as demonstrated that every single Red Tailed Hawk they tested had some rodenticides in it. Every Hawk I have tested, as well as every fox and coyote, are the same.
Here is my ask:
1) STOP USING ANTICOAGULANT RODENTICIDES
2) There is a bill in the Massachusetts senate to ban these chemicals. It is up for debate on April 15th, 2026. PLEASE CALL, EMAIL, WRITE YOUR SENATOR! To be specific this is the Mass Ready Act S. 3050 Amendment #3

04/12/2026

Would you like a sign in your yard? Send us a message with your address (Newbury only,please) and we will drop one off.

04/11/2026

URGENT Action Needed from Mass Audubon:

Rodenticide Legislation Vote on April 15

It is time to act to protect wildlife and pets from rodenticide poisoning! The Mass Ready Act has moved out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and Senator Moore has proposed the rodenticide bill be added as Amendment #3. Your senator can cosponsor the amendment and will vote on it this Wednesday, April 15!

Please contact your legislators today! We need them to hear from as many advocates as possible before they vote this Wednesday. Want to make the greatest impact? Look up their phone number and call them!

We have four days to flood our state senator’s inboxes and voicemails with calls to cosponsor and vote for Amendment #3. Let’s get this amendment passed to protect our wildlife and pets!

Take Action Here:
https://web.massaudubon.org/site/Advocacy?page=UserAction&cmd=display&id=369

Onward,

Heather Packard (she/her)
Community Organizer
(978) 402-5689

04/11/2026

If you are a Newbury resident, please read!

In January of 2024, Newbury was one of the first towns in Massachusetts to restrict the use of Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticide (SGARs) on town property. Since then, many towns are following suit.

At our Annual Town Meeting in April 2024, we overwhelmingly voted to approve a home-rule petition (HRP) to restrict the use of rodenticide on private property (21 other towns in Massachusetts have since passed similar home rule petitions and another 11 towns will be voting on an HRP this year). Because an HRP expires after two years, Newbury voters now need to approve resubmission of our HRP to the state.

We have filed a petition with the town and we will be voting again to ban dangerous SGARs at our town meeting on May 5, 7pm at the Triton High School auditorium. Please attend the town meeting and vote YES to protect our wildlife, pets and children. ❤️🙏