# Environmental Bad News of the Day: **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 11, 2015, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258 "2015-11-11T04:22:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/1 "2015-11-11T04:22:43Z")
What it says on the tin. [Mountain Lion Killed By Rodent Poison Near Los Angeles](http://www.buzzfeed.com/jasonwells/mountain-lion-killed-by-rodent-poison#.wkRB8lb9er) Bio-accumulation of anti-coagulants, of all things. > [@](#): > > [Anticoagulant] Rodenticide has killed two other mountain lions, most recently in 2004, although it has been suspected in other deaths. > Rodent control poisons have also been blamed for killing coyotes and are associated with a severe disease epidemic in bobcats, according to the National Park Service. > “We hope that P-34’s death will continue to raise awareness about how anticoagulant rodenticides work their way up the food chain, often with deadly effects,” Riley said. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/2 "2015-11-11T04:27:14Z")
Oh, excuse me, this is the Pit. _You stupid humans can’t even put an anti-coagulant on the market that doesn’t degrade as it moves up the food chain? You think you’re so clever! Good grief, you never should have come down out of the trees! Some of us animals are just trying to eat and we get this! This!!???_ No, seriously, I had no idea that Warfarin did that. I guess I thought it more like cyanide, killing with acute exposure but otherwise digested. I don’t know why I thought that. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/3 "2015-11-11T04:45:14Z")
Note to self: no matter how hungry you are, do not eat the dead rat! I’m sad that mountain lions were killed, but I’m not going to wish our ancestors never “came down from the trees”. If they could, the mountain lion would be very happy to kill and eat any one of us. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/4 "2015-11-11T04:56:02Z")
Do you not understand the problem with bio-accumulation and unintended consequences? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/5 "2015-11-11T05:06:08Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Note to self: no matter how hungry you are, do not eat the dead rat! Well, not the green wobbly bit. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/6 "2015-11-11T05:31:56Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Do you not understand the problem with bio-accumulation and unintended consequences? Yes. I just don’ think it rates as evidence we should still be swinging in the trees. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/7 "2015-11-11T18:17:41Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yes. I just don’ think it rates as evidence we should still be swinging in the trees. George of the Jungle! What’s not to like?! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/8 "2015-11-11T19:25:27Z")
How about something a little more Pit worthy. I’d be nice to keep [petrochemicals out of Wisconsin water](http://www.startribune.com/more-than-18-000-gallons-of-ethanol-went-into-mississippi-after-train-derailment/343246062/) since I live here and drink the stuff. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/9 "2015-11-11T20:02:45Z")
Here’s one that hits close to home (my home) [The EnergyEast Pipeline](http://canadians.org/energyeast), brought to you by TransCanada - the folks who finally got shut down on the Keystone XL. Besides being a bad idea for pretty much all of it’s proposed route across Canada (the proposal includes using outdated natural gas pipelines for parts of it’s length. “We’ll fix them”, they say), it’s slated to terminate in St. John, New Brunswick - smack dab on the Bay of Fundy which is a [unique and irreplaceable ecosystem](http://www.conservationcouncil.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Bay-of-Fundy-Report-Eng.pdf)(pdf) that feeds into the Gulf of Maine. The increase in mega oil tanker traffic alone is reason enough not to do it, not to mention the nightmare of a potential spill. So NIMBY (literally) and not anywhere at all really. It’s time to stop this bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/10 "2015-11-11T21:28:03Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Yes. I just don’ think it rates as evidence we should still be swinging in the trees. This is the Pit, I was being hyperbolic. _Stupid caveman._ ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/11 "2015-11-11T21:36:00Z")
Humans used to be tree-dwellers? That is just moronic. Anyone who thinks that should just go back to swinging in trees. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/12 "2015-11-11T21:39:35Z")
This is the thread I’m going to go to when I feel excessively cheerful. Like if I got some really good news about someone dear to me, and I need to get back to surly. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2015, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/13 "2015-11-11T21:40:56Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > This is the Pit, I was being hyperbolic. In the Pit the term is “hyperbollock”. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/14 "2015-12-29T22:06:05Z")
[More lovely news from Southern California](http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/12/infrared-video-of-huge-southern-california-methane-leak-makes-plume-visible/). Apparently the Aliso canyon natural gas leak has been going on for more than two months, dumping tens of thousands of _kilogram_s of NG into the air every hour. One of the major components of NG is methane, a greenhouse gas that is much worse than CO[sub]2[/sub]. They are not expecting to get it under control for at least another month. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/15 "2016-01-28T18:12:45Z")
Billionaire Paul Allen of Microsoft has 2 dingies. The “Octopus” is a tad over 400 feet long, but it was elsewhere at the time; the 300’ Tatoosh was in the Caymans when [it dragged an anchor chain across some sensitive coral, destroying about a third of an acre of the reef](http://www.geekwire.com/2016/paul-allen-yacht-reef-damage/). It is not established whether the owner was onboard at the time (his football team had a playoff game a few days after this incident). ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/16 "2016-01-28T20:17:32Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > How about something a little more Pit worthy. > > I’d be nice to keep [petrochemicals out of Wisconsin water](http://www.startribune.com/more-than-18-000-gallons-of-ethanol-went-into-mississippi-after-train-derailment/343246062/) since I live here and drink the stuff. Meh. It’s only ethanol. Folks have been adding that to water to make it safe to drink for thousands of years. Just imagine you’re drawing a glass of vodka from your tap. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/17 "2016-01-28T22:54:10Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > What it says on the tin. > > [Mountain Lion Killed By Rodent Poison Near Los Angeles](http://www.buzzfeed.com/jasonwells/mountain-lion-killed-by-rodent-poison#.wkRB8lb9er) > > Bio-accumulation of anti-coagulants, of all things. Say, if you’ve got mountain lions, coyotes and bobcats around . . . why set out rodent poison? Seems to me the rodents are taken care of. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/18 "2016-01-28T23:06:58Z")
I think the idea is that you would rather not have mountain lions, coyotes and bobcats around, so you wipe out your rodents as a way to create a dangerous-predator food-desert where you live. Because, you know, those things are scary. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/19 "2016-01-28T23:48:56Z")
And if the rodents are in your house, you probably don’t want a bobcat coming in to hunt. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258/20 "2016-01-29T19:36:29Z")
Leopards can and regularly do climb trees, human’s evolutionary advantage is a particularly foul tasting flesh. It must be embarrassing to have ravenously hungry Great White Sharks _spit you back out_ after one taste, as evidenced by a non-zero survival rate of such attacks. Humans are total hypocrites saying skunks stink … [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/environmental-bad-news-of-the-day/737258.md?page=2)