Thursday, March 15, 2007

Squirrels put on birth control

This has nothing to do with landscaping really, unless you've been having problems with squirrels destroying your clients' property. But an article from the Los Angeles Times recently reported that city officials from Santa Monica are proposing birth control shots to control the squirrel population at city parks.


According to the article, "Plans call for squirrels in Palisades Park to be rounded up and injected with an immuno-contraceptive vaccine to stunt sexual development. The inoculations will take place this summer when the squirrels are most active. The city plans to use GonaCon, a contraceptive developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to help control the critters. The vaccine stops ovulation and lactation in female squirrels, and halts testicular development in males. 'It’s a cutting-edge approach,' said Joe McGrath, the city’s parks chief. 'Pest control in general isn’t usually very exciting or even controversial. That hasn’t been the case with the squirrels.'”


You can read the rest of the story here.


Though since this is from an area that is pretty liberal, I really have to ask whether they've already tried passing out tiny squirrel condoms or offering squirrel abortions on demand. — Mike Seuffert

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