Squirrel deaths spark outcry over rat poisoning

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Last fall, the city began poisoning rats that had invaded Philadelphia's most elegant park. But neighbors are upset because Rittenhouse Square's squirrel population is suffering the same gruesome fate as the rats.
Heliana Murray was walking her basset hound in the square last week when one of the few remaining squirrels there began to convulse and gush blood.
"She was standing in front of me," Murray said. "I cried so much."
Jeff Moran, spokesman for the Philadelphia Health Department, acknowledged that at least a dozen squirrels have died, but said the department had no choice because the rats posed a risk to public health.
There were more than 50 burrows of rats in the park; only half a dozen remain.
Murray has gathered more than 300 signatures asking Mayor John Street to allow them to help attack the rat problem using a nonpoisonous approach.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals delivered the petition and a letter Thursday, but the mayor had no comment.
Stephanie Boyles, a biologist at PETA's headquarters in Norfolk, Va., said poison would not be necessary if people made sure they left no trash or food in the park and the city used rodent-proof metal trash cans.
But Moran said "some level of baiting is always going to be necessary" because getting people to change their habits is so difficult.