North Andover Conservation Commission Backs Town-Land Rodenticide Ban, Splits 3-2 on Private-Property Petition

NORTH ANDOVER — April 8, 2026 — North Andover Conservation Commission splits on rodenticide warrant articles ahead of town meeting. The commission voted unanimously April 8 to recommend favorable action on Article 27, a bylaw that would codify the town's existing practice of prohibiting second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides on municipal land, but divided 3-2 on Article 26, a companion home rule petition that would eventually allow the town to restrict the same poisons on private property. Carol Disney, founder of Save North Andover Wildlife, told commissioners that a group survey found 553 bait boxes across town and that two red-tailed hawks found at Royal Crest tested positive for rodenticide poisoning — one is being treated with vitamin K and surviving, its mate was found dead. Commissioners who voted against the private-property article cited existing state and federal licensing of commercial pesticide applicators and questioned the town's enforcement capacity, with one urging the group to focus energy on advancing Senate Bill 2721 and House Bill 5217, the pending statewide ban currently in Senate Ways and Means. In a separate action, the commission voted unanimously to ratify and amend an enforcement order for a Route 114 sewer project after an accidental water main strike sent water into an adjacent wetland, requiring two and a half days of vacuum-truck sediment removal before seeding was completed.