Animal Protection Party of Canada calls on Health Canada for nationwide ban of inhumane poisons.

VICTORIA, British Columbia, Dec. 21, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Animal Protection Party of Canada (APPC) is calling on the Minster of Health, Patty Hajdu, to stop the continued use of Compound 1080, Strychnine, and Sodium Cyanide after the department recently cancelled the use of Strychnine to control Richardson’s Ground Squirrel.

The use of pesticides is regulated by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). APPC’s assessment of the PMRA’s own evidence indicates that the same science used to justify the cancellation of Strychnine to control ground squirrels are grounds for extending the ban to other species and to all three poisons that have been documented as inhumane and indiscriminate in their killing of wildlife.

The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association classifies Strychnine and Compound 1080 as inhumane because of the prolonged suffering and pain they cause. Animals ingesting these poisons can suffer for up to and over 24 hours before losing consciousness.

Jordan Reichert, Deputy Leader for the APPC, said that banning these poisons is an issue of animal cruelty, human health, and ecological integrity. “Poisons do not discriminate in their victims. Target and non-target species equally suffer the cruel consequences of these outdated methods of population management. There is no reason why we should continue to put harmful poisons in our environment when evidence shows non-lethal methods of co-habitation are far more successful and reliable in reducing conflict with other species.”

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cancelled the use of Strychnine to control predators in 1972. Similarly, use of Compound 1080 is limited to livestock collars and Sodium Cyanide is a classified in Toxicity Category 1, the greatest degree of acute toxicity to humans and the environment.

The APPC is asking for a special review with the intent of banning the use of Strychnine, Compound 1080, and Sodium Cyanide; rescind all end product permits during the special review; and enact a nationwide ban on the use of the three pesticides.

Jordan Reichert: 250-216-0562 / jordan@animalprotectionparty.ca

www.AnimalProtectionParty.ca/poisons