City mulls poisoning solution
KEN EDWARDS CENTER — The debate over how to deal with some 500 ground squirrels believed holed up beneath Palisades Park reared its head again on Thursday, when a local group voted to continue eliminating the rodents at the county’s request.
The Recreation and Parks Commission narrowly voted in favor on Thursday of upholding a Los Angeles County Department of Health Services directive which would likely require the ground squirrels at Palisades Park continue to be killed in the future, in order to keep the rodent infestation at appropriate health levels, officials said.
The Recreation and Parks Commission — a group of citizens appointed by the City Council to make recommendations regarding park policy issues — decided (4-3) to honor county guidelines regarding ground squirrel population control. This means that unless an alternative solution is presented and accepted by government agencies, City Hall would likely poison excess squirrels in coming months in order to comply with vector control.
A separate motion which would have requested that City Council write a letter to the county to clarify aspects about the squirrel infestation — and perhaps lead to a legal challenge of the county’s request — was voted down (4-3) at Thursday’s meeting.
LA County officials classify ground squirrels as communal rodents, many of which are believed to have fleas that carry the bubonic plague — a health risk to humans and other animals when a field inspection reveals there are more than three squirrels per acre visible above ground, said Gail VanGordon, a supervisor for the vector-born disease surveillance unit.
Exceeding this visual survey, VanGordon said the county conducted two in-depth inspections at Palisades Park in March, which revealed the number of below-ground burrows had increased from 46 to 146 in a matter of weeks. Since the ground squirrels frequently burrow together, that likely puts their number well into the hundreds, spread over a 1.5-mile stretch.
Joe McGrath, city parks operations superintendent, said City Hall had been attempting to suppress the ground squirrel population at the park since the spring, following a warning from vector control. City Hall stopped using pesticide to reduce the ground squirrel population in late June. However, since there are no prohibitive measures currently in place to stop their growth, the ground squirrel population is expected to continue to grow in coming months.
Unless City Hall can find a non-lethal alternative, it would likely be directed to begin poisoning the squirrels again, officials said.
McGrath said it is not a solution he looks forward to putting in effect.
“We are asking for proposals of non-lethal ways to control the ground squirrel population,” McGrath said. “As long as it is not too expensive, we will look at whatever we can do.”
Parks Commissioner Neil Carrey, who supports City Hall staying within the county’s guidelines, said his primary concern was dealing with any health risks the squirrels might pose.
“I would never wait until the plague hits before we resolve this issue,” Carrey said. “If the city started to challenge this, that would mean more legal fees, and I think the city is already challenging enough cases already.”
However, some dispute the county’s squirrel elimination policies and want City Hall to step up its efforts to fight the county and state.
Parks Commissioner Jennifer Wolch said a non-lethal approach to population control should be within the city’s grasp.
“I think there are a variety of non-lethal control measures that have been developed to address human wildlife problems, and the regulatory agencies are not necessarily utilizing them yet,” Wolch said.
Travis Longcore, a USC science researcher, said government agencies often see eradication as a solution without attacking the source of the problem. In the case of Palisades’ ground squirrels, the conditions causing the “infestation” are not being addressed.
According to Longcore, park visitors who feed the squirrels are a major source of the problem. Providing the squirrels with food creates an unnatural habitat from which the squirrel population swoons. If greater enforcement was taken to prevent feedings, it might go a long way to naturally control the squirrel population.
In addition, the idea that the fleas carry the “plague” is also misunderstood, Longcore said. The fleas on ground squirrels in Santa Monica are not at a high enough altitude to be the same fleas that carry the plague. If humans were infected by fleas that carried this plague, it would cause flu-like symptoms in 20 percent of today’s population.
Longcore suggested putting flea powder in the bait boxes — which would kill the fleas and not the squirrels.
Nick Steers, a Santa Monica resident and former parks commissioner, said the ground squirrels pose a further problem of erosion on the Palisades Bluffs that’s not being considered with the health risks.
“The ground squirrels are undermining the whole park,” Steers said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 20, 2005. Read the original PDF.