Published On: Mon, Jan 27th, 2025
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Owners of dogs and cats warned they may be killing garden birds | UK | News

Cats and dogs are widely treated with insecticides to protect against fleas, with vets often recommending regular flea treatments as a preventive measure, regardless of whether pets have fleas or not.

However, a study has suggested that songbird chicks are being killed by high levels of pesticides in the pet fur used by their parents to line their nests. Researchers looking at the nests for the harmful chemicals found in pet flea treatments found that they were present in every single nest.

Now, scientists from the University of Essex are calling for the government to reassess the environmental risk of pesticides used in flea and tick treatments, as well as look to restrict their use.

It was already known that the chemicals in the treatments were impacting life in rivers and streams after pets swam in them, but the discovery of its consequences on the lives of songbirds will add to the urgency.

Scientists are also recommending that animals be treated for fleas only when they actually have them.

Cannelle Tassin de Montaigu, the lead author of the research paper, said: “No nest was free from insecticides in our study, and this significant presence of harmful chemicals could be having devastating consequences on the UK’s bird populations.

“Our research shows that based on the chemicals detected, veterinary flea and tick drugs are the most likely source of contamination. We undertook our research when it was safe to do so at the end of the breeding season, so the problem could in fact, be much worse.

“This raises questions about the environmental impact of veterinary drugs and calls for a comprehensive environmental risk assessment of veterinary treatments.”

The study published in Science of the Total Environment reveals that the fur used by birds to build the inner lining of their nest contained chemicals used in pet flea treatments, such as fipronil, reports The Guardian. Imidacloprid was also found in 89% of the 103 blue and great tit nests that were collected by the researchers. 

Fipronil is banned in both the UK and EU for agricultural use, and imidacloprid was banned in the EU as a plant protection product in 2018. However, both of them are still used in pet flea treatments. The UK government is planning to completely ban imidacloprid use in agriculture but not in pet treatments.

The scientists found more unhatched eggs and dead chicks in nests exposed to higher levels of insecticides. Chief executive of SongBird Survival said: “We are a nation of pet lovers and bird livers, and it is extremely concerning to see the alarming levels of toxic pesticides in bird nests from veterinary drugs.

“Pet owners will be upset to hear that in trying to do the right thing to support their pets with fleas and ticks, they could be harming our ecosystem, resulting in dead newborn chicks and unhatched eggs. As pet owners, we need to have confidence that we are keeping our pets well, without devasting impacts on our wildlife.

“Our UK songbirds are in crisis. More than half of our UK songbirds are threatened or already in decline, which is why this latest research shows the importance of taking action as soon as possible. We want the government to undertake a more comprehensive environmental risk assessment of veterinary drugs.”