Wild pigs’ guts are turning blue in California
The wild pigs of California are turning blue from the inside. The disconcerting discovery is not due to an inexplicable genetic mutation. According to a California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) survey, laboratory tests indicate that some of Monterey county’s idiots are exposed to the Rodenticide Diphacinone anticoagulant. Toxic pesticide bait is frequently used by farmers to control rats, squirrel and other small mammal populations. Nor is it the first case of off -color fauna in the region.
“I’m not talking about a little blue. I’m talking about blue neon, blue blue,” said the expert against fauna Dan Burton Los Angeles Times Earlier this month. “It’s wild.”
Burton saw his first blue pigs in March while massacring animals he captured near Salinas. The muscle and fatty tissues were visibly blue, which prompted it to contact the CDFW. Subsequent analysis of the California Animal Health and Food Safety’s Wildlife Health Lab (WHL) in Davis, California, confirmed traces of Diphacinone in the livers and stomachs of pigs.
“Wildlife can be exposed inadvertently to rodenticides either by eating rodentid baits, or by eating other animals that have ingested rodenticides,” said the CDFW.
CDFW officials say that wild pigs probably came across rodenticide in the bait traps set out by farmers and agricultural companies. Diphacinone is not naturally blue itself – instead, it is included in bait which is dyed of vibrant color as a warning for humans to avoid consumption.
Times there also noted that laboratory tests have shown that animals were exposed to the poison “over an extended period”. Although the doses of a trap are fatal for its smaller targets, they are not large enough to immediately damage pigs, which regularly weigh 100-200 pounds.
“Hunters should be aware that game animal meat, such as wild pig, deer, bear and geese, could be contaminated if this play animal has been exposed to Radentides,” warned the CDFW, adding that the wild game could have ingested Diphacinone even if they do not ultimately develop the colorful side effect.
In 2024, Diphacinone was widely prohibited in California, unless it was deployed by a certified vector control technician – legislation aimed at limiting unintentional poisoning on fauna. In 2018, a CDFW study found traces of rodenticide in approximately 8.3% of wild pigs living near residential and agricultural locations with active rats control projects. Previous research has also shown that diphacinone cooking meat does not drag poison, and that consumption can still cause symptoms of rodenticide intoxicid such as lethargy.
CDFW asks anyone who contacts the agency if they come across wild animals – Pignes or otherwise – with tinted blue or fat tissues by sending an e -mail to whlab@wildlife.ca.gov or by calling (916) 358-2790.
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