A Cute, Fuzzy Little Problem : Squirrels: The debate rages at College of the Canyons after an order to reduce the campus’s population of the rodents, whose fleas can transmit the plague.

The squirrels seem harmless enough--furry, little creatures, scurrying busily across the College of the Canyons campus in search of nuts or food left by their human friends. But look again.

Squirrels may have cornered the market on cute, but they carry fleas that are potential carriers of plague, and Los Angeles County health officials have ordered the Valencia college to get rid of some of the creatures. That mandate has alarmed some COC students and animal rights activists, and left school officials reluctantly searching for the best method to carry it out.

“I don’t like killing animals any more than anyone else,” said Cal Allsup, COC facilities director. “But I fully understand that there’s a problem and the squirrels need to be suppressed.”

Although some students and animal rights activists are opposed to killing any squirrels, others are mostly concerned that it be done humanely.

County agriculture officials recommended killing the squirrels using the chemicals Diazinon, diphacinone and aluminum phosphide. Diphacinone, an anti-coagulant, dilutes the squirrels’ blood so that it seeps out, causing them to bleed to death.

Officials said the squirrels would probably return to their burrows to die but that the bodies of those found aboveground would be disposed of immediately.

Some students and animal rights activists have proposed trapping the squirrels and putting them to sleep painlessly. Better yet, the squirrels would not have to be killed at all if they were sprayed with a chemical to eliminate the fleas, they say.

Squirrels on the Valencia campus are as common as students, and their burrows dot the hillsides and fields. Some are so tame “they’ll actually come up and take food out of people’s hands,” Allsup said.

The order to reduce the campus’s large squirrel population was issued after a routine inspection in September.

“Ground squirrels and the fleas that they carry are important in the transmission of plague,” said Franklin Hall, chief of the county Health Services Department’s vector-borne disease control program.

Squirrel eradication programs are common. “In recent years, there has been an increase of plague occurring in wild rodents throughout Los Angeles County,” he said.

The fleas that live on the squirrels can carry sylvatic plague, Hall said. When the squirrels come in contact with people or domestic animals, the insects can be transmitted.

When contracted by people, the disease is known as bubonic plague, whose symptoms include inflamed lymph glands, fever and delirium. The disease can lead to death.

Although no squirrels examined on campus have been found to have fleas carrying plague, the population still must be reduced as a precaution. “It’s similar to inoculating children for measles,” Hall said. “We’re taking the measures to prevent something from occurring rather than waiting for it to occur.”

Last week, the school’s board of trustees allocated $5,000 for an eradication program but did not decide what method should be used.

The plan proposed by the county agricultural commissioner has met with opposition from some student activists and others.

“I think that we should look for and find the most humane and realistic method possible to take care of the problem,” said Michael Daly, a student. “I think ideally we can find a solution where none of the squirrels have to be killed.”

Daly and others have posted Save the Squirrels banners around campus and held meetings to inform students and faculty members about the issue.

Community animal rights activist Kathleen Ungar said a suppression program was unnecessary. “As far as I’m concerned, people overreacted,” she said. “Everyone’s just guessing” that the squirrels might carry the disease.

Daly has expressed concern that the chemicals suggested for use may also harm people or animals that eat the poisoned squirrels.

Sentiment on campus ranges from apathy to adamant support.

Even before the health department mandate, the squirrels kept groundskeepers busy. Workers constantly refill holes made on athletic fields by squirrels. Allsup said squirrels have even caused structural damage to buildings by burrowing underneath.

“I say, ‘Kill ‘em,’ ” said Jim Blankenship, a natural resources major. “I’m an environmentalist and all that, but they’re undermining the grounds.”

But other students disagree, just as adamantly.

“I don’t think they need to suppress them at all,” said Shannon Stark, 19. “We took their area. We destroyed their home, basically, so where else are they going to live? They’re just trying to survive.”

College of the Canyons is all too familiar with animal controversies.

Four years ago, college officials attempted to rid the campus of swallows roosting on the ledges over the entrance to the campus’s main building.

Officials tried driving them off with gooey repellents, sonic beepers and high-powered water hoses. Nothing seemed to work and six of the birds, which are a protected species, were killed in the attempts.

Since 1987, however, the school seems to have learned to live with the birds and now even has a festival celebrating their annual return.

“The student community and faculty at COC realize the value of having the swallows come home to their college, and now I would like to see the squirrels given the same respect,” Ungar said. “If we can save the swallows, we can save the squirrels.”

Although the swallows and squirrels are a cause celebre on campus, officials have been killing gophers for years without causing an outcry from students or community animal rights activists.

“People aren’t concerned about the gophers because gophers are ugly things,” Allsup said. “They look like rats.”