Holyoke moves to ban rat poison on city property, targets July 1 effective date

HOLYOKE — March 24, 2026 — Holyoke's Ordinance Committee voted unanimously to ban second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides on all city-owned property, targeting a July 1, 2026 effective date. Committee Chair Megan McGrath Smith brought the 5-0 vote after DPW Director Michael Gallagher confirmed the city currently uses SGAR bait traps in fire stations and the War Memorial Building through a contracted exterminator. The committee modeled its draft ordinance on language from Lowell, which includes an emergency waiver process through the Board of Health; the committee asked the Board of Health for a written transition plan before the measure goes to a final full-council vote. Wildlife rehabilitator Kathy Gainer, president of Urban Wildlife Rehabilitation, testified by Zoom that she had held animals dying from SGAR poisoning for 28 years, describing a January 2025 bobcat kit whose toxicology report showed brodifacoum and bromadiolone levels that "would have killed an animal much larger than herself." The committee also passed 5-0 a resolution urging the Massachusetts Legislature to approve Senate Bill 2721 and House Bill 965, companion statewide restrictions on SGARs, and directed copies to the governor and legislative leaders.