Squirrels Exterminated at State Park

Rangers in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park have gassed about 100 squirrels to death in an attempt to control the exploding population in park campgrounds.

The squirrels have gotten so used to food handouts from friendly campers that they have begun to overrun the park, District Supt. Jack Shu said. Since last week, park officials have been trapping them and placing them in plastic bags full of ether.

Their bodies are then carted off to Project Wildlife, where they become little meals for injured hawks and one hungry golden eagle, Shu said. The ether evaporates quickly and doesn’t contaminate the squirrels, as poison would.

Several weeks ago, a San Diego resident complained that he and his son were overrun by cat-sized squirrels that chewed up his foam cooler, officials said. But so far, those have been the ones that have gotten away.

“If there was one as big as a cat, I would be running the other way. Two-and-a-half pounds are the biggest we’ve trapped. That’s big, but not 30-pounders,” Shu said.

So far, rangers have done all their trapping in the Green Valley Campground. They plan to trap about 50 more before moving north to the Paso Picacho campground, Shu said.

“In the campground in Green Valley, we would often see from six to 10 squirrels at a given campsite. According to guidelines from the U.S. Forest Service, there should be one or two of them every two or three campsites,” Shu said. “In a natural environment, with no camper food, you would be hard-pressed to find a ground squirrel.”

Shu said there are so many squirrels in campground areas that competition for food is fierce. Campers often mistake hungry rodents for friendly ones, but Shu stressed that feeding the animals is a violation of state law.