The Path to U.S. National Registration of a Toxic Bait for the Control of the Small Indian Mongoose

The small Indian mongoose (Urva auropunctata [syn. Herpestes auropunctatus]; mongoose) is a highly invasive species in its introduced range that negatively impacts ecosystems. Mongooses depredate native species, serve as a vector of disease posing a risk to human health, and cause sanitation issues in food processing facilities and public areas. Introduced for biocontrol in the late 1800s in Hawaiʻi and the Caribbean, mongooses currently have well-established populations across multiple islands in both island archipelagos and have invaded numerous other locations throughout the world. The concern of accidental introduction to mongoose-free islands, the difficulty in species detection, and the high cost and labor demand of trapping present the need for a novel control method. A target-specific and efficacious toxic bait can provide an additional tool to reduce mongoose abundance, to eradicate incipient populations, and for biocontrol at ports of entry. In this paper, we document the pathway to registration for a toxic bait for mongoose control with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A registered product must demonstrate a low risk to nontarget species, meet standards for human health and safety, and show no unreasonable adverse effects to the environment. There are no other comparable invasive small mammalian carnivores for which toxic baits have been developed and registered for bait station deployment in the United States