Authors: Carmona, Guillermo; Burgos, Tamara;Barrientos, Rafael;Martin-Garcia, Sara;Hernández, Javier;Palacín, Carlos;Quiles, Pablo;Bandeira, Victor;Mateo, Rafael;Virgós, Emilio;

Anticoagulant rodenticides can help to reduce rodent overpopulations in agricultural areas, but they also produce harmful effects on natural predators when ingest them directly or by consuming poisoned preys.
We aimed to study the presence of rodenticides in the European polecat (Mustela putorius), a renowned rodent consumer. Ten livers per area of roadkilled polecats were analyzed in 4 areas with different intensive agricultural management: Jaén (olive groves), Madrid (cereal fields in protected area), Valladolid (cereal fields with allowed rodenticide use and frequent rodent pests) and Toledo (cereal fields with low presence of rodent pests outbreaks). The samples were analysed by liquid chromatography (HPLC-MS/MS).
Rodenticides were detected in 58% of the individuals in all areas. Contrary to expectations, Jaén showed higher prevalence (70%), followed by Madrid and Valladolid (60%) and Toledo (40%). A total of 4 compounds were detected: bromadiolone (38%), difenacoum (23%), brodifacoum (28%) and flocoumafen (23%). No major differences were observed in the compounds detected between zones, except for Valladolid, where flocoumafen concentration was higher than other areas.
The results reflected a high exposure in all sampled areas regardless of agricultural management. This should be considering when regulating these compounds to search less harmful alternatives for biodiversity conservation.