The city of Riverside is allowing its residents to trap, poison, and kill fox squirrels because they are a "nuisance." The decision to legalize killing fox squirrels was made without any say from the public.



The rules take effect this month, Spring of April, while mother squirrels have offspring to take care of. If squirrels are able to be killed at this time, it will create orphaned offspring that will starve to death.



There are many humane and simple ways to resolve a squirrel problem. The majority of people that kill or remove squirrels just end up finding new squirrels on their property later, because they are focusing on removing the result of a problem rather than fixing the problem itself.



The only real way to get rid of squirrels is to change whatever brought them there in the first place. Poison will just result in unnecessary death, not only for the squirrels, but for the predators that eat them, or any pet or animal that consumes the poison instead of them. According to the University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program, it is not legal to use poison bait to kill tree squirrels.



Please sign the petition to ask Riverside to not kill fox squirrels!