Should slug pellets be banned?

Question

Slug pellets have contributed to the decline of the Thrush and other native songbirds?

Given the number of birds that die from eating poisoned slugs, how come they've never been banned?

In our garden, we control slugs with trays of cheap beer. They crawl in, drown, and we then dump them on the lawn for the birds to have a non-toxic feed.

A cheap can (40 pence) can nobble about 40 slugs (and the odd snail as well).

Answer 1

I grow lettuce with zero slug problem no pellets. However I have a pond which has a population of frogs.

Yes a definite ban of.

Answer 2

YES! they should be banned and totally! If people want slugs and snails out of their gardens there are many natural ways of doing this. I have two ponds in my garden, one's a fish pond and the other is a wildlife only pond. The community of wildlife living there also consists of seven mating pairs of frogs! Frogs will eat the slugs and snails in abundance. Problem solved. Slug pellets do so much harm AND they don't work. The slugs eat the pellets AND the plants and then they die! The birds eat the slugs and THEY die. I don't think slug pellets should even be sold in the shops. Surely people could manage ONE pond in the garden to help things along and it has the added benefit of providing yet more areas for wildlife at the same time. This is something i feel VERY strongly about. Have a star.

Answer 3

If we have a natural predator eating the snails and slugs, would you think we could control snails with just the thrush? A researcher at Guelph discovered a little fly that would lay eggs in snails and slugs, eventually kill them. I have to wonder what happened to that initiative.

Snails and slugs do damage so many plants and in particular fruits that are almost ready for market. Your beer strategy might work in a back yard, but how will it move to large scale field protection?

The importance of this is that most snails, most thrush, are out in the large field, even if you see them most in back yards.

Answer 4

Based on this information then yes, and I'm off to buy cheap beer at the weekend - will be funny to see all the pigeons in our garden wandering round in a drunken stupor though - may stop em shitting all over our path!

Answer 5

no they should not be banned because you can now get slug pellets which are harmless to children and animals!, and if you didnt use them we would have no veg left!!!

Answer 6

yes they should-there are many alternatives now.I saw a test of various natural substitutes on a gardening prog.,the one that came up best was bran sprinkled around the base of the plant-apparently slugs dont like to go over it.

Answer 7

Definitely.There are loads of remedies for slugs that are harmless to birds.Also cat owners should be forced to put a bell around their pets neck and give wildlife a fighting chance.

Answer 8

Yes they should be banned I agree with you