Sulfuryl Fluoride: VIKANE
CAS No. 2699-79-8

June 17, 2005. Pest control companies fight fines in deaths of pet cats.
By Kevin Howe. Monterey County Herald (California).
 
 

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Monterey County Herald (California)

June 17, 2005

Pest control companies fight fines in deaths of pet cats
Felines were overcome by poisonous gas during fumigation of homes

By KEVIN HOWE
Herald Staff Writer

Two pest control companies are contesting fines levied against them by the Monterey County Agricultural Commission after the deaths of two pet cats in clients' Carmel area houses last fall.

Hearings have been scheduled at the agricultural commissioner's office, 1428 Abbott St., Salinas, at 1 p.m., June 27 for Central Coast Exterminating Co. of Salinas, and 11 a.m., June 28 for Mission City Fumigation Co. of Watsonville, said assistant agricultural commissioner Bob Roach.

Central Coast was fined $2,750 and Mission City fined $2,500 after the agricultural commissioner's office investigated the deaths of neighbors' cats that crawled into clients' houses in Carmel Valley on Sept. 22, and in Carmel on Oct. 6, he said.

The companies are disputing the fines, Roach said.

Nancy Carlen of Carmel, whose mother's cat Velvet died in the fumigation incident for which Central Coast Exterminating was fined, said she has been asked to appear as a witness at the June 27 hearing.

She said she left her house the morning of Sept. 22 and returned in the late afternoon to find a neighbor's house wrapped in gas-proof fabric and the residence pumped full of poison gas to kill termites and other insects.

When her cat failed to return that night, Carlen suspected Velvet had gone to a favorite hiding place -- the crawl space under the neighbor's house -- and had been trapped. The cat's body was later found by workers.

Her mother, now bedridden with Alzheimer's disease, "asked me a few weeks ago where Velvet was," Carlen said.

"I told her she was out playing." Her mother owned the cat since it was a kitten, Carlen said.

On Oct. 6, James Dowhower and Brenda Morrison went looking for their cats after a neighbor's house on Dolores Street was tented. They found two of their cats safe outside, but heard the third, Phoebe, meowing inside the neighbors' crawl space.

Dowhower crawled in and rescued the cat, but the animal died early the next morning from inhaling poisonous Vikane gas.

Carlen said that when Pacific Gas & Electric Co. or California-American Water Co. turn off service in a neighborhood, employees come around and post notices in advance. She has been lobbying for a law that would require pest control contractors to do the same when they fumigate.

Scott Howell, president of Mission Cities Fumigation, could not be reached for comment.

Carlen said she suspects many similar pet poisonings go unreported, noting the Carmel area experienced two such pet deaths within two weeks.

Roach said the state Structural Pest Control Board is proposing an amendment to its notification requirements that would put the burden of notifying neighbors of an impending fumigation on those who ordered the service.

Kevin Howe can be reached at 646-4416 or khowe@montereyherald.com


Note from FAN: See related information: January 21, 2005, California document on Inspection of Structures Prior to Introduction to Vikane.

 
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