La Mesa

Sally Lambert, the self-styled Possum Lady of La Mesa, and La Mesa City Council member Jerri Lopez officially started a petition drive Friday to create a city ordinance that allows homes to be used as care centers for wild animals.

Lambert has been taking care of injured or orphaned wild animals--mostly possums, but also a few foxes and raccoons--in her La Mesa home on Gregory Street for 11 years. The city has now ordered her to get rid of the more than 40 injured animals under her care because of a neighbor’s complaints and because she’s in violation of a zoning ordinance.

“The petition would require the City Council to provide for land uses in residential zones for the rehabilitation of injured or orphaned indigenous animals,” said Cathy Rising, a member of Project Wildlife, which supports the petition drive.

The petition, filed with the county clerk on Friday, will be available for signing after a three-week waiting period required by the election code. If 4,600 signatures are collected, the City Council would have the option of enacting the ordinance or placing the measure on the ballot.

“We need to be protected by an ordinance,” Lambert said. “There is no ordinance to protect the injured animals you find in the city or around the county. This would set a precedent for the state of California.”