A ground squirrel eradication effort began Thursday at Flood Park in Menlo Park.
Though the park is overrun with the creatures, not everyone is happy about getting rid of them.
Ground squirrels darted around the park this week, jumping into their little burrows in old oak trees. Holes were everywhere.
San Mateo County Parks Spokeswoman Carla Schoof said that damage has been occurring for years, but it’s gotten to be just too much, making ballfields and picnic areas unsafe.
So, bait boxes have been put out with poison, as crews put poisonous gas into the burrows via hoses.
"Using gas, which is pumped into the burrows and then the burrows are blocked off, and the squirrels die in their homes," Schoof told KCBS Radio.
Of course, not everyone at the park was happy about the efforts.
"There must be another way to successfully remove them, because they’re killing nature," said one park visitor, Michelle. "And, they belong here, we don’t."
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