The city of San Diego is poisoning the squirrels who live and play along the bluffs above Windansea Beach.
I sensed something was wrong last month, when a squirrel family who lived in a bush near the stairs at the foot of Nautilus Street disappeared. My pup Winston and I looked forward to seeing the squirrels while on our morning walks.
Days before the family’s disappearance, five baby squirrels emerged from the bush and began exploring their new surroundings. They climbed branches, sampled flowers in their tiny paws, and played together to the delight of onlookers, their pups, and the squirrels’ proud parents.
One Sunday morning, the squirrel family vanished.
Winston and I began looking high and low for the squirrels along the bluffs. I asked neighbors if they could share news of any sightings. No one could give me a definitive answer, until I struck up a conversation with a resident who lived nearby. She told me the city was poisoning the squirrels as a method to prevent bluff erosion.
I was horrified. If true, her claim would mean the city is using my taxpayer dollars to exterminate the squirrels who bring joy and life to our Windansea neighborhood.
A front-page story in a recent edition of the La Jolla Light confirmed my worst fear: A city spokesperson acknowledged the city’s use of poison to limit the Windansea squirrel population.
While I understand the need to prevent erosion, I also am aware of the human activities that damage the Windansea bluffs, including running and walking up and down the steep clay slopes, as opposed to taking the stairs, and dragging heavy wagons and coolers down to the beach on unmarked trails.
There are less harmful, more humane ways to manage the Windansea squirrel population. Killing squirrels with poisoned bait is not only is hazardous to the squirrels. It also endangers wildlife — including birds, racoons and coyotes — and dogs, who may come across the poisoned squirrel carcasses.
Poisoning the squirrels of Windansea may be the city’s most cost-effective option to prevent bluff erosion, but it’s also the most cruel and inhumane.
Windansea residents value coexistence with nature. Exploring non-lethal alternatives to poison — including humane trapping and relocation, birth control shots, and contraceptive food stations — is imperative if we hope to live up to the spirit of aloha for which our beautiful neighborhood is known.
The change we hope to see in the world begins with us.
Like-hearted San Diegans can make a difference by adding their names to the Save the Windansea Squirrels online petition, and contacting the offices of City Council President Joe LaCava and Mayor Todd Gloria to express their concerns. Urge them to work with city staff, contractors and community members to identify and adopt a safe and humane alternative to poisoning the squirrels who call Windansea home.
Mahatma Gandhi profoundly observed: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” With the Windansea squirrels as our North Star, San Diegans can create a counterforce of compassion to the cruelty making daily news headlines across our country and throughout the world.
A second-generation San Diegan and nonprofit consultant, Molly Bowman-Styles is the President of Windansea Communications.
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