California IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Navy Told to Stop Killing Squirrels

An animal rights group has won a court order against a Navy program to kill squirrels at a weapons station. The group claims the chemical bait used also threatens endangered species such as the San Joaquin kit fox and salt harvest mouse. U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson on Friday granted a temporary restraining order to the Contra Costa County chapter of In Defense of Animals. The group sued the Navy in federal court, contending a squirrel-control program was started at the Concord Naval Weapons Station without an environmental impact report. Contra Costa County paid for half the poisoned grain but was not named in the lawsuit. The county has sponsored an eradication program for years that has not been challenged in court. About five tons of oats containing an anticoagulant were spread over 800 acres of the station before the ban was imposed.