CONCERNS RAISED OVER SQUIRREL BAIT STATIONS IN LA JOLLA
La Jolla is known for its seals, seagulls and sea lions, as well as many other animal families that live along the coast. But one in particular has the city of San Diego taking steps to try to reduce its number.
“Ground squirrels ... are often a very invasive species that burrow into fragile bluffs, causing destabilization and erosion,” said city spokesperson Benny Cartwright.
Thus, the Parks & Recreation Department contracts with a company to provide pest control for squirrels and other rodents at shoreline parks, he said.
Squirrels also can carry diseases and impede plant growth, Cartwright said.
Parks & Rec’s contractor works to identify areas of overpopulation and perform abatement following an “integrated pest management” approach that includes habitat modification and eradication if needed.
But that doesn’t sit well with La Jolla resident Bryan Resheske, who said he noticed poison bait stations on the cliffs at Shell Beach near La Jolla Cove.
He told the La Jolla Light, a publication of the U-T Community Press, that he’s concerned that poison is “a very knee-jerk reaction to the very natural cliffside erosion caused by the recent heavy rain.”
Cartwright did not confirm whether the bait is poison, though he did confirm that the contractor uses it. He added that “the abatement
is not a new practice and is not related to the rain.”
Any chemicals used to
control the squirrel population are approved for use in California under the U.S. Environmental Protection Act, according to information Cartwright provided.
Jim McCaughan, a statelicensed wildlife trapper, said squirrels burrowing at seaside cliffs and elsewhere do cause erosion.
The bait stations often are used by commercial vendors and private citizens to control those particular rodents, McCaughan said.
But Resheske said he’s also concerned that “rodenticides are very harmful to the ecosystem.” He pointed to findings cited by Audubon of damage to birds and other non-targeted wildlife that eat rodents and subsequently become poisoned.
McCaughan said there are newer poisons formulated to stay out of the parts of rodents consumed by predators.
Both he and Resheske noted that other methods of population control may be more humane, such as catch-and-release and contraceptive-based feed that sterilizes the rodents rather than poisons them.
McCaughan said, however, that a catch-and-release strategy often is ill-advised because relocating squirrels carrying disease simply spreads it to a new place.
Still, Resheske said poison is an “unacceptable” and “cruel” way of controlling burrowing squirrels and that he hopes another method will be used.
“They always draw a crowd and are a long-standing part of the diverse wildlife of La Jolla Cove,” he said.