Beloved Cape Coral burrowing owl dies from suspected rat poison

Last week, Jo says she went outside to snap a picture of the owls when she saw Grace lying flat on her face in the dirt near the burrow. She rushed the bird to the hospital where they began evaluating her for rat poisoning.

Grace died three days after being admitted to the hospital. Jo said veterinarians told her that Grace isn’t the only poisoning victim they’ve seen recently.

“CROW is saying there are 15 others who have died from that this season, that’s a lot,” said Lucarelli.

Pascha Donaldson is the President of Cape Coral Friends of Wildlife. She said people will try solving their rat problem by using poison. Since that’s a staple of a burrowing owl diet, eating a poisoned rat could carry deadly consequences.

“We’re very concerned, we always preach and I have to say preach, not to use rat poison,” said Donaldson. “Rodenticide is a horrible thing. It’s a horrible way to kill an animal.”