Assembly Bill 1788, which would enact a statewide ban on certain anticoagulant rodenticides—the type of rat poison known to climb “up the food chain” and harm larger predators—passed out of assembly and is heading to the California State Senate.
The final vote was 50-16 in favor of the bill, according to Poison Free Malibu founder Kian Schulman, and was presented by Richard Bloom, District 50 Assemblymember, representing Malibu.
AB 1788 would “ban the worst rat poisons,” according Schulman, in an email shared with The Malibu Times. Schulman went on to describe, “Richard Bloom’s opening speech for the bill was superb. He told about P-47, the most recent mountain lion tragedy.”
Earlier this month, the National Park Service reported mountain lion P-47 was found to have died with six different anticoagulants in its system.
According to the bill’s text available through California Legislative Information, “This bill would create the California Ecosystems Protection Act of 2019 and expand this prohibition against the use of a pesticide containing specified anticoagulants in wildlife habitat areas to the entire state.”