Making a Killing: How the ‘pest’ control industry profits from lack of regulation
There’s big money in poisons. It’s a little-known fact that the global ‘pest’ control market is valued at more than $25 billion. As it is, the go-to solution is to reach for the poison, regardless of the pain and suffering that rodenticides cause to target and non-target wildlife alike. The current routine used is a cruel, agonising death for the animal targeted, and potentially for other animals too – including foxes, badgers, otters, owls and other birds of prey – who either consume poisons directly or eat creatures who have eaten the baits. As animal rights advocates, we urgently need to step up efforts to stop the silent killing of our wildlife. We need to make our case loudly and set out the alternatives clearly. The routine use of lethal poisons causes immeasurable suffering and it needs to stop.
TOM ANDERSON: There’s big money in poisons. It’s a little-known fact that the global ‘pest’ control market is valued at more than $25 billion. The sector in the UK alone was worth approximately £683 million in 2025-6, and its profitability is steadily growing. In 2024, $15 million was spent on rat control in London. The big-player contractors include the Rentokil and Anticimex corporations, which both bring in billions from wildlife control globally.
It’s no wonder that such a massive industry, driven by profit, has largely failed to do its job. The lack of adequate regulation for the industry makes it even less likely that wildlife control will be either humane or cost effective.
There is an inherent conflict of interest at the heart of the industry: its profitability relies on the problem that it’s supposedly trying to solve never going away. A contractor who permanently solves a rat problem will, in effect, be putting themselves out of work. Meanwhile, ‘pest’ control contractors, rodenticide manufacturers, and their distributors, rake in the money as baits are laid repeatedly, never solving the actual issue.
Humane solutions are not complicated. Proofing a building is straightforward, the results can last for years, and it poses no threat whatsoever to non-target wildlife – who are often inadvertently killed by rodenticide poisons. Controlling waste reduces the food sources that draw rodents to buildings in the first place. Even when rodents remain in the vicinity, a properly proofed building simply keeps them out. However, it’s more profitable for contractors to come out year-in, year-out to lay poison baits again and again. There are companies out there who follow an ethical approach to managing wildlife in public areas…
As it is, the go-to solution is to reach for the poison, regardless of the pain and suffering that rodenticides cause to target and non-target wildlife alike. The current routine use of SGARs results in a cruel, agonising death for the animal targeted, and potentially for other animals too – including foxes, badgers, otters, owls and other birds of prey – who either consume poisons directly or eat creatures who have eaten the baits. SGARs cause intense suffering by triggering internal bleeding which lasts for three to ten days before eventually killing the animal…
As animal rights advocates, we urgently need to step up efforts to stop the silent killing of our wildlife by SGARs and other poisons. We need to make our case loudly and set out the alternatives clearly. The routine use of lethal poisons causes immeasurable suffering and it needs to stop. SOURCE
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