Health officials demand that SM poison ground squirrels; Council begs to differ
CITY HALL — A contentious dispute over whether Santa Monica’s ground squirrels should be poisoned to prevent outbreaks of the bubonic plague has pitted local leaders against Los Angeles health authorities.
The City Council this week voted to look into alternative ways of dealing with the local California ground squirrel population, considered dangerous because it is a host to fleas, which carry the deadly plague. Nationwide, 10 to 15 people die from the plague each year, mostly in rural areas.
Officials from the Los Angeles County Health Department twice recently demanded Santa Monica kill off its resident ground squirrel population, saying if City Hall doesn’t do the work, they will. At issue are the many ground squirrels living inside the Palisades Bluffs, above the Pacific Coast Highway.
Members of the City Council broached the contentious issue late Tuesday, after passing a budget for the coming year and hashing out a proposal for an $11.50 minimum wage for government workers. Some on the council said the squirrels need to be killed to protect the safety of residents, adding alternatives are too costly. Others argued it’s inhumane to kill the playful animals.
“If your dog has fleas, you don’t kill your dog,” said City Councilman Kevin McKeown, kicking off a divisive, hour-long debate on the dais.
Perhaps the most ardent supporter of the ground squirrels was Councilman Ken Genser, who suggested City Hall disregard the county mandate.
“I don’t know what the county would do, but I think if we’re serious about trying to solve the problem, and maybe not following the order strictly, I think we should maybe not be so much asking the county — but telling them what we intend to do, and leaving it at that,” Genser told his colleagues.
“There is a human dimension to this,” he added. “I know, certainly for certain individuals in my family, the squirrels are a very important part of their recreation. And I think they bring a lot of pleasure to a lot of people in this community.”
McKeown said he hoped to avoid disobeying a county order, but emphasized he feels strongly about saving the squirrels. He pointed to Riverside, Santa Barbara and Ventura, and said City Hall should follow their method of treating the squirrels for fleas, rather than killing them outright. “(The county keeps) coming back to us, every year or every other year, and asking us to kill all the squirrels in Palisades Park — and that just feels wrong,” said McKeown, who brought the issue to the council. “If there’s a way to do this without going head to head with the county, I would go toe to toe.”
City Attorney Marsha Moutrie warned the council not to do anything deliberately against the county order, adding their mandate is several weeks overdue.
“Whatever you decide we should do …. we need to do it promptly, because this is now a second notice from the health official,” she said.
Not all the council members wanted to give the issue more attention. City Councilwoman Pam O’Connor, who left the dais before voting, said she thought it was a bad decision to spend time and resources on what is clearly a health problem, especially during tight economic times.
“There are no natural predators to the squirrels,” she said. “It’s not a natural environment there. There are no bobcats. Coyotes do not roam in Palisades Park. And there’s no program — and I’m not saying there should be — to neuter the squirrels. So they’re going to keep expanding their population.”
City Councilman Bob Holbrook recalled how the debate over squirrels came up in the 1998 election, dubbed by some the “squirrel campaign.”
“Everyone was upset about euthaniz-ing squirrels, you know, they’re kind of fun little animals. It got kind of heated,” Holbrook said, adding the issue is more serious than it may appear. “It’s the kind of thing that sounds crazy, but they had the, whatever it is, the organism that causes, or virus that causes plague.”
Though they agreed to ask the county for alternatives, City Councilman Mike Feinstein and Mayor Richard Bloom both expressed concerns.
“I don’t think that there are other practical methods (of controlling the squirrel population), based on my understanding, but there’s certainly no harm in asking the county to reconsider,” Bloom said. “I do believe this is a serious issue, and let me be clear on that. I think that the control of rodent populations and furtherance of controlling the spread of disease is a very real and serious issue...
“We can control fleas on our domestic animals — like dogs and cats — but that’s because we have them accessible, and you can put powder on them, you can control fleas in your yard, you can put drops on them. You really can’t nab the squirrels, and grab ’em and do that every month,” Bloom added.
The fleas may not be the only problem. “There’s another huge issue here,” Holbrook said. “It’s the bluffs. And one of the reasons they’re falling is they’re full of holes.
“They’re like Swiss cheese out there.” The plight of local ground squirrels was discussed earlier this year as part of a $10 million plan to help shore up the eroding bluffs. Part of the problem, officials said, were thousands of tiny tunnels burrowed through the bluffs, weakening them and helping contribute to future slides.
Tree squirrels neither carry the plague nor do they dig holes into the bluffs, officials said. Ground squirrels were the culprit.
McKeown at the time suggested relocating the ground squirrels, rather than killing them. County health officials since have reported it is illegal to transport the squirrels because of the health risks. It’s also illegal to feed them.
What will happen next is unclear. Though City Hall hopes the county will cooperate in finding a way to deal with the squirrels, staffers said health authorities in a recent warning said if City Hall doesn’t act fast, they will spread poison themselves.
That possibility has many concerned, because the county doesn’t employ the special “bait tunnels” that City Hall has used in the past. That method attracts squirrels, who then pick up the poison and carry it back to their resting spots. County officials, staffers said, use what’s called a “broadcast” method — where poison is essentially scattered about, putting other small, bluff-dwelling animals at risk.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 18, 2004. Read the original PDF.