COLLEGE OF THE CANYONS : Gassing of Squirrels Is Protested

College of the Canyons has lodged a protest with Los Angeles County officials because the college was not notified last week when agricultural workers decided to use aluminum phosphide instead of Blue Oats to eradicate flea-infested ground squirrels on the campus.

Sue Bozman, public information officer for the Santa Clarita Valley campus, said she didn’t learn about the change until she read about it in the local newspaper the day after the chemical was used. Dianne Van Hook, college superintendent/president, also knew nothing of the change, Bozman said.

The college was ordered to reduce its ground squirrel population in September after a routine inspection by the county Health Services Department’s Vectorborne Disease Surveillance Program. Tests determined that many of the squirrels carried fleas that can potentially transmit certain diseases, such as sylvanic plague.

Student leader Michael Daly and others protested the proposed killing of the squirrels and suggested that they be trapped and moved elsewhere.

However, after months of exploring alternatives to poisoning the squirrels, the college turned the problem over to the county Department of Agriculture.

Agricultural Inspector John Santos said the ground saturation from the recent rains was ideal for the use of aluminum phosphide, a gas that is released from pellets placed inside the squirrels’ burrows, but not for Blue Oats, a poisoned bait.

“The aluminum phosphide is safer, quicker and very toxic,” he said. “And by sealing the burrows, the fleas also are trapped. So there is no chance of the fleas infecting humans.”

But the campus turned the problem over to the county with “the understanding that they were going to do the original plan they had offered,” Bozman said. “We weren’t real happy with the Blue Oats, but that’s what we expected. It’s extremely frustrating because we put a lot of energy into seeing that this was done right.”

“You indicated that the changes were well justified and were the safest, most humane procedures,” Bozman wrote in a letter to Santos protesting the change. “However, the changes were made at the last minute and our campus was not notified ahead of time that you would be using gas-releasing pellets instead of dusting for fleas and then using Blue Oats.”

After returning to the campus this week, Santos said he believes his department’s work is finished. “As far as I’m concerned, we have reduced the number sufficiently.”

Gary Olmstead, college business manager, said that Santos told him that aluminum phosphide was no more harmful than carbon monoxide. “From their standpoint, they did what they are supposed to do,” he said.