Squirrel Tale Has No End in Sight

An explosion in the ground squirrel population is driving Santa Monica officials a little nutty.

The city is under order from the Los Angeles County health department to reduce the number of the chubby rodents in a popular seaside park, to lessen the chance of people contracting plague.

But some local residents, unhappy with the lethal-bait boxes at the 26-acre Palisades Park, fear that pets and wildlife are being put at risk.

This week the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals weighed in with a letter to Mayor Pam O’Connor accusing the city of illegally misusing the pesticide by placing the poison where other animals could get to it.

Non-targeted animals could eat poisoned carcasses or get into the bait boxes, PETA said.

“Failing to follow the product label on a pesticide is a violation of federal law,” wrote PETA representative Mylie Thompson.

City parks chief Joe McGrath, who suspended use of the poison in late June because of citizen concerns, has been searching since then for a practical alternative, which he says seems to be unavailable. “We’re willing to try anything,” he said.

Many of the bait boxes remain in the park, but they are not being replenished.

Ground squirrel extermination has been undertaken at the park off and on for at least 20 years with little attention, but citizen reaction in recent months has been “off the charts,” McGrath said.

Tree squirrels, slimmer and with curlier tails than ground squirrels, do not pose a plague problem and are not targeted, officials said.

The mayor was not available for comment Thursday, but city spokeswoman Judy Rambeau said the poison method used by the city was safe and legal.

Longtime park user Diane Shackelford was horrified Memorial Day to see a flock of crows “picking off sick squirrels” near bait boxes along a well-traveled path.

“I think we’ve come far enough that we don’t have to be putting poison in a public park,” she said.

Early this year, county health officials counted 146 active burrows in the park. McGrath estimated that more than 1,000 squirrels were living in the labyrinths.

The county Department of Health Services monitors parks for plague bacteria, which ground squirrels can harbor and transmit to humans through fleas. Disease control supervisor Gail Van Gordon said a July inspection showed acceptable progress in ground squirrel reduction but that the effort must continue.

“I know there are a lot of concerns in the city of Santa Monica,” she said. “Our intentions are not to eliminate all ground squirrels in Palisades Park.”

She added that the department does not give advice on how to limit the squirrel population.