City manager asks county to give program a chance
PALISADES PARK — The county-mandated killings of ground squirrels here may have come to an end last week now that a pilot program aimed to control the rodent population has been introduced, according to city officials.
City Manager Lamont Ewell ordered city staff to enter into an education and birth control program created by Animal Advocates, which calls for the treatment of remaining squirrels for fleas to prevent disease, installing signage to advise against feeding the animals and distributing immuno-contraceptives.
Ewell also asked for county health officials, who threatened legal action against City Hall if it did not reduce the squirrel population immediately, to not issue any further citations until the one-year program could be studied for its effectiveness.
Squirrels and other rodents are known to carry fleas which could spread disease such as the bubonic plague, county health officials said.
After receiving a summons Jan. 16 from the county Health Department regarding non-compliance with the health and safety code, City Hall was ordered to kill the squirrels or face legal action. Upon learning of this, Ewell ordered staff to reduce the squirrel population using a deadly poison. The killing of squirrels began on Feb. 6 and lasted for four days.
The city was ordered to reduce the squirrel population before. In July, the council used traps and poison to kill the squirrels.
“As a person who loves animals, my goal is to avoid ever having to reduce the population of squirrels (by poisoning them) again,” Ewell wrote in a Feb. 9 memo to the City Council. “We are optimistic that the education and contraceptive approaches will allow us to maintain the population and meet county requirements.”
City Council member Kevin McKeown, a fan of squirrels who has tried to stop the killings, said he made contact with Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and officials at the county, but was unable to stop the latest extermination. McKeown said he has received reassurances from county officials that they will work cooperatively with the City Hall as the new population control plan goes into effect.
The plan is considered a humane alternative to the current method, which is to poison the squirrels with a lethal dose of aluminum phosphide that is either sprayed into the burrows or put in troughs of food. That tactic was deemed deplorable by animal rights advocates, including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, as well as residents like Sara Lee Berman, who walks her dog at the park nearly every morning.
“They gas them and then bury them alive. How can they get away with that?” Berman said. “It’s one of the happiest things to see people out with their dogs looking at all the little kids pointing at the squirrels. If it’s a problem, I think it’s one that people can live with.”
But according to the county health department, city officials can’t. Too many ground squirrels in one area is a violation of the county health and safety code dealing with the harboring and breeding of rodents. The acceptable number of ground squirrels is no more than three visible per acre, which only represents roughly 17 to 40 percent of the population in any given area, said Gale Van Gordon, supervisor of the county’s Vector Born Disease Surveillance Unit.
When Van Gordon and her staff visited Palisades Park last March she said they found 146 burrows below ground. Since squirrels frequently burrow together, she said that puts their number well into the hundreds, spread over a 1.5-mile stretch of open space.
“The ball is in their (city officials) court now,” Van Gordon said.
The Animal Advocates’ plan is expected to cost $4,168 and it will run for one year. No poison will be used, said Mary Cummins, president of Animal Advocates, which is licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game.
Under the plan, burrows and squirrels will be dusted with a flea treatment. “Do not feed signs,” along with brochures educating the public about squirrels, will be placed in the park. However, signs already are posted and are largely ignored by the public.
Also part of the plan, trash can lids will be secured to prevent squirrels from eating food. A feral cat colony caretaker also will be notified to keep food away from squirrels, and immediately clean and remove excess food after feedings, Cummins said.
Quarterly reports will be given to City Hall, which will include an active count of burrows, along with monthly samples of fleas found on squirrels that will be tested for disease, Cummins said.
“California ground squirrels can control their population size,” Cummins said. “If people were to stop or reduce the feeding their numbers would be reduced … Of course it’s impossible to get all feeders to stop. The most realistic goal is to gradually reduce the feeding before breeding season.”
Berman admits she is a culprit, even promising her friend to feed the squirrels when she went out of town for a few days.
“I don’t think the squirrels are a threat,” she said. “They’ve been out there for years and have developed a natural eco-system. It wasn’t a problem until the county got involved.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 18, 2006. Read the original PDF.