http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/11919298.htm
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.