In message , ex WGS Hamm
writes

wrote in message
...

I would have thought that most wildlife instinctively know what's good
and safe to eat.

Rats are smart. Eat a small amount to try it and if they feel no ill
effects eat some more some tie later. Other smaller rodents are pretty
stupid and eat enough to kill or disable them on the first encounter. I
grow various tropical plants with nasty seeds that are very effective
rodent killers.

You are wrong I'm afraid. Animals and birds will scoff ultra fatty stuff or
salty stuff. Salt kills a bird very quickly. I keep parrots so am a bit
careful as to what I feed.(40+ expensive parrots). My sister once fed her
beloved hens some avocado thinking she was giving them an expensive treat.
She got up next day, opened the henhouse to find all her hens dead. Yes,
avocado is poisonous to most birds and animals. I once had a rescue dog raid
the bin and eat avocado peelings and chewed the stone.

I can imagine the stone might well be seriously toxic. But what is the
risk with avocado flesh? We used to feed our hens with all kitchen
scraps and I expect they got the odd bit of avocado thrown in from time
to time.

Birds can more or less safely eat yew berries - there was a huge tree in
our hen pen and despite the toxicity it never seemed to bother them.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown