Six wildlife and conservation groups have filed a petition seeking a statewide ban on the use of rat poisons in New York.

The groups presented necropsy reports from a study conducted by the State Department of Environmental Conservation stating that wildlife including birds, foxes, dogs, and cats had died after eating poisoned rats, the New York Times reported.

The filing also cited 225 human victims since the 1980s. The petition aims to ban the over-the-counter sales of second-generation anticoagulants.

"These toxic products are poisoning the food chain," said Jonathan Evans, a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity, during an interview with the New York Times. "They're having effects on upper-level predators that feed on small animals. We're poisoning the solution when we use these products for rodent control."

Evans added that the groups' analysis revealed pesticides have killed 50 red-tailed hawks, 47 squirrels, 36 great horned owls, 19 crows, 12 screech owls, 7 Cooper's hawks, 7 deer, 6 foxes, 3 golden eagles and 2 coyotes between 1989 and 2013. According to the New York Times report, some of the animals may have died from blood clotting that led to internal bleeding.

"Predators that then eat poisoned rodents may ingest a toxic dose far beyond the amount needed to kill the rodent and be lethally poisoned from just one feeding," the petition stated.

Rat poison was used in Central Park until 2011 before the state switched to mouse traps. The current rule prohibits the use of rat poisons whenever red-tailed hawks visit the park during the nesting period. But the groups pushed for a statewide ban because adjacent buildings in the city still use the pesticides to control the rats.