CANBERRA, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- At least nine species of endangered Australian marsupial carnivores, including the iconic Tasmanian Devil and all of Australia's quoll species, are more endangered by rat and mouse baits commonly used around the home and in the workplace, a new study said on Tuesday, which called for stopping these unnecessary deaths of native wildlife.

Staggering results were shown in the research from Edith Cowan University (ECU), which tested five of Australia's largest native marsupial carnivores for anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs), or poisons, with half of the animals testing positive for ARs, and 21 percent having more than one AR compound in their bloodstream.

Even the remote populations of the Pilbara Northern Quoll showed evidence of ARs in their bodies, in spite of their lack of interaction with human landscapes likely to contain ARs due to remote location, said ECU researcher Michael Lohr.

In addition to directly poisoning the animals, ARs could also result in a weakened immune system, making the already endangered species more prone to infectious diseases, and predation, said ECU Associate Professor Rob Davis.

The exposure to rodenticides may be directly raising the mortality rate of Tasmanian Devils by 15 percent, and a further 30 percent of Tasmanian Devils were exposed to sub-lethal doses that may make them more vulnerable to other causes of mortality, according to the research published in the Science of the Total Environment.

Regarding the Spotted-tailed Quoll, a 10 to 20 percent increase in juvenile or adult mortality would result in a high probability of population extinction, and the study showed that 40 percent of Spotted-tailed Quolls were exposed to sub-lethal doses of rodenticides.

The researchers from ECU, Curtin University, and the University of Western Australia called on the government to regulate the use of these poisons and restrict the widespread sale of pesticides, as there are bait alternatives that do not use ARs. Enditem

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