[mossguy]

A friend with horses ties a short length of rope to all bucket handles and leaves the loose end in the bucket. Allows the critters to climb out. you could try something similar with your pool. If you still get dead critters, no doubt there is some other reason, such as poison, as was mentioned above.

Steve - Poisoned rats do look for water. We used to find them under a bathtub. I took the precaution after the first incident, to have an access panel to take them out before they got too stinky.