Safety Harbor Mayor Joe Ayoub says he plans to ask the City Commission on Monday to pass a draft resolution opposing the sale and purchase of anticoagulant rodenticide after a famous family of owls were recently killed in Philippe Park.

"The city does not have the authority to actually mandate that people don't use the harmful rodenticides," said Ayoub. "But we are urging people to not use them." 

The draft resolution would oppose the sale, purchase and use of anticoagulant rodenticides in Safety Harbor. 

According to Birds in Helping Hands, safer products to use contain bromethalin or cholecalciferol. Product brand names that contain those chemicals include Fastrac, Assault and Terad3. Snap traps and electronic zappers are also safe.

"At this point right now it's about education," said Ayoub. "I put a very detailed post on social media talking about all the dangers and what residents can do." ​

The mayor also had information posted on the city's website and an insert put into the utility bills of 7,500 residential customers. Raptor Rescue of Tampa Bay asked for the insert and paid for it. 

"We've been trying to put it out through as many means as possible," said Ayoub. "It's really pulled at people's heart strings and grabbed their attention."​

For more than eight years, a pair of owls returned to a nest in a big oak tree in Philippe Park to raise their chicks, according to Birds in Helping Hands. The first signs of deadly trouble came last year, when two chicks were found dead. A necropsy proved those chicks were killed by rodenticide.

One owl needs to eat a dozen rats everyday to survive and consumes even more to feed their chicks. The problem occurs when the owl eats a rat that has been poisoned with rodenticide. The owl ends up suffering from a secondary poisoning. 

In March, the mother owl and one of her chicks were found dead. Necropsies proved those two owls were killed by rodenticide. Last month, the father owl and another chick were found dead. Test results on those owls have been pending but rodenticide is strongly suspected.

"It's upsetting because they became a fixture in Philippe Park — everyone got to know them," said Ayoub. "People would travel here from all over to look at them, to take pictures of them." 

The mayor said in March, after the mother and her chick were killed, he had all of the rat poison boxes removed from city property. 

"We had 20 of them throughout the city," he said. "Once we got word, they were removed within 24 hours." 

Bird rescue groups have been trying to catch the sole surviving chick, named Daisy, who's too young to hunt for herself. According to Fairl Thomas, with Birds in Helping Hands, Daisy vanished last Wednesday. Thomas said it's not possible to know exactly what happened to the bird.

"There was another family of great horned owls spotted within three miles of the park," she said. "In theory, it's possible she connected with them. We've had hundreds of volunteers out looking for her." 

Bird rescue groups said they're going to push Florida lawmakers to ban rodenticide statewide. California passed a ban in 2020.