Welcome to the Save Massachusetts Wildlife Education Fund

MK on the Mystic

“If we kill off the wild, then we are killing part of our souls.” – Jane Goodall

SMWEF Mission and Vision

The mission and vision of Save Massachusetts Wildlife Education Fund (SMWEF) is to educate the public about the presence and importance of wildlife in the Commonwealth, including in our state’s urban and suburban ecosystems. SMWEF raises awareness about the toxic and often fatal effects rodenticides (rat poisons) have on wildlife and companion animals and seeds potential for community level action.

The Bay State boasts a rich diversity of resident and migrating wildlife. 

However, many of these species are facing increasing risks to their survival from climate change, over-development, plastic pollution, and pesticide poisoning (particularly from rat poisons).

Wildlife species such as American bald eagles are dying in the Commonwealth from rat poisons like Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (SGARs).

In 2023, the beloved breeding female bald eagle “MK” of the Mystic River watershed (pictured above), succumbed to SGARs poisoning. She was the third bald eagle confirmed to have died from this in the Boston metro area since 2021.

However, hundreds of other animals are sickened by and die due to SGARS exposure in the state every year. 

This includes foxes, coyotes, raccoons, opossums, crows, squirrels, and fishers, as well as cats and dogs.

How you can help

Your contribution will

  • subsidize a series of animated video tutorials,
  • develop and install billboard campaigns to educate residents how rodenticides are killing local wildlife, and
  • develop shareable and printable infographics.

Wildlife is something which man cannot construct. Once it is gone, it is gone forever.”

Joy Adamson

Laura Kiesel, Executive Director savemawildlife@gmail.com