Poisons
Diphacinone
The anticoagulant diphacinone has been chosen as the poison in PESTOFF® ferret paste because it has been shown to kill ferrets effectively (see Spurr et al 1997a & b for more detail).
In trials the researchers found that:
- All captive ferrets died after a single feeding of 120 milligrams diphacinone/kilogram body weight,
- All captive ferrets died after repeat feedings of 30 mg per kilogram/day for 2-4 days.
- Pregnant females are more susceptible than non-pregnant females to the effects of diphacinone.
Unlike 1080, no licence is required for diphacinone, so it can be used by the public.
1080
1080 is a suitable poison for ferret control.
Ferrets need to eat about 8 g of bait containing 0.015% 1080 in a single feed to be killed.
However, the risk to dogs and cats (which are very susceptible to 1080) is too high for this poison to be used for ferret control. It is not currently registered for use against ferrets and is not available for private use.
Brodifacoum
Ogilvie et al. (1996) found that Talon® 50WB baits (containing brodifacoum) were not suitable for use on ferrets, because females have to eat more than three of these baits and males more than 20 baits to be killed.
An effective bait formulation could be made by increasing the concentration of brodifacoum, but is not currently available.
Another major problem is the persistence of brodifacoum residues in livestock, which makes it unsuitable for use on farm land (Laas et al. 1985).
There is also risk of secondary poisoning which may or may not be regarded as beneficial. Alterio (1996) and Brown & Alterio (1996) reported on a rabbit poisoning operation using Talon 20P (active ingredient brodifacoum) on coastal grasslands in Otago. They found Talon also killed ferrets, stoats, and cats that ate rabbits, rats, and mice that had eaten the bait.
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