A PROGRESS REPORT ON A NEW AVICIDE: 2-CHLORO- 4-ACETOTOLIUDINE (CAT)

In California Starlings are not only causing serious damage to many agricultural crops, but they are crowding out some of our native birds. In 1966 Decino, et al. found that a compound, DRC 1339 (CPT), was toxic to Starlings but not to mammals. Our laboratory studied this compound; and, due in part to this work, the compound was registered for use as an avicide for use in baits for control of Starlings at feed lots, dairies, and chicken farms with the trade name Starlicide. In our studies on its fate in the mammal, one of the metabolities was CAT, the acetylated derivative of CPT. Its toxidty was found to be just as great for Starlings as the parent compound but much lower for raptors and mammals. This suggested that it might be a better avicide than CPT, and Intensive studies are underway in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to get its EPA registration