Overview
- Hunters reported pigs with vividly blue-stained fat in Monterey County, leading local authorities to confirm rodenticide contamination and issue a countywide advisory.
- CDFW cautioned that game meat from species such as wild pigs, deer, bears, and geese may be unsafe if the animals were exposed to rodenticides.
- The implicated compound is diphacinone, a first‑generation anticoagulant often dyed blue; the fat may be discolored while the meat appears normal, and cooking does not reliably neutralize the toxin.
- Wildlife officials warned of secondary poisoning risks to predators and scavengers, noting detections of diphacinone in raptors, mountain lions, bobcats, foxes, and endangered species including the northern spotted owl and San Joaquin kit fox.
- California has tightly restricted diphacinone since 2024, yet exposure pathways persist, with a local trapper reporting pigs seeking rodenticide‑baited oats since March and authorities urging reports of abnormal animals to the Wildlife Health Lab.