To control rats, save the raptors

By Linda Graetz, Guest Writer ● July 25, 2025 ● The Waltham Times

The death of a majestic bald eagle during the winter of 2023 sent shockwaves through the environmental community and sparked a local movement that continues today. The eagle, known as MK, was the third member of a family that once lived in Waltham’s Mount Feake Cemetery to die from anticoagulant rodenticide poisoning. This was yet again a tragic reminder of how efforts to control rodent populations can have devastating unintended consequences. 

Inspired by environmental advocate and journalist Laura Kiesel’s presentation on the dangers of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides to wildlife, four concerned Waltham Land Trust members formed Save Waltham Wildlife that February. The group has an ambitious goal: to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of these deadly poisons throughout the city. SWW’s mission has taken on new urgency as Waltham grapples with what many residents simply call “the rat problem.”