Nahant officials issue warning about pesticides after 2 dogs die

Officials in Nahant issued a warning about a specific kind of pesticide, saying two dogs from the town recently died after ingesting something poisonous while on a walk.

A Nahant resident “lost 2 large Labrador retrievers over the weekend due to the ingestion of a toxin after going for a local walk,” town officials wrote on social media Monday morning.

Officials did not confirm what exact toxin killed the pets, but reminded residents that Town Meeting voters approved a ban on the use of first-, second-, or future-generation anticoagulant rodenticides by professional pest control companies on any properties in Nahant earlier this year.

Anticoagulant rodenticides are designed to kill rodents by slowing the blood-clotting abilities of animals that consume them. Critics say the poisons pose a serious danger to animals who might eat rodents that have consumed the rodenticides — like birds of prey and pets — and point to second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, or SGARs, as particularly harmful.

Federal law prohibits the sale of SGARs to general consumers, but licensed pest controllers and some agricultural users are still permitted to use them in Massachusetts.

“Please check with any pest control company that you are utilizing to ensure that these SGARs are not being applied to your property,” Nahant officials wrote.