http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/12003582.htm
Monterey County Herald (California)
June 28, 2005
Fumigator protests fine for dead cat
The company owner testified that cats tend to hide, while dogs
will come when workers call
By KEVIN HOWE
Herald Staff Writer
The amount of fines levied against two local pest control companies
over the deaths of pet cats killed by poison gas may hinge on
just how hard their workers are expected to look for animals underneath
houses.
Anthony Zeidler, owner of Central Coast Exterminators Co. of
Salinas, appeared at a hearing Monday to protest the $2,750 fine
levied against his firm by the Monterey County agricultural commissioner
over the death of a pet cat in Carmel Valley.
Another hearing is scheduled at 11 a.m. today at the agricultural
commissioner's office for Mission City Fumigation Co. of Watsonville
over a similar case in Carmel. That company faces a $2,500 fine.
The hearing is at 1428 Abbott St., Salinas.
Both cases involve pet cats in crawl spaces under houses tented
for termite or pest control.
Zeidler didn't contest the facts of the case involving the Sept.
22 death of Velvet, a 9-year-old cat owned by Nancy Carlen of
7072 Valley Greens Circle. The cat succumbed to fumes from Vikane
poison gas at the house next door at 7074 Valley Greens.
Deputy Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Ken Allen said
his office contends that the two pest control companies failed
to follow labeling instructions on the Vikane containers they
used.
The labels say that pets or other domestic animals and desired
plants should be removed from a building before the gas is applied,
and state law requires pest control companies to follow label
directions.
In addition, Heather Sowersby, biologist and investigator for
the agricultural commissioner's office, said she had questioned
the workers who did the job for Central Coast and none recalled
crawling under the house to look for any animals before tenting
it.
Carlen said her three cats were in the habit of sleeping in the
crawl space under the neighboring house and that the tenant was
aware of it and assured her they caused no problems.
The day the house was tented, she said, she had gone out to run
errands at 1 p.m. and when she returned at 4 p.m., "there
was that big extermination tent next door."
She called her cats in, Carlen said, and all but Velvet came
home.
"When she didn't come home that night, I knew she was in
there."
Unaware that the Vikane had already been pumped into the house,
Carlen said, she called the owner, Doug Steiny, and asked him
to call the company and hold off until the house could be searched.
The cat's body wasn't found until Steiny crawled underneath the
house to search for it several days after the tenting was removed.
"We checked for cats," Zeidler said. "Unfortunately,
this does happen."
His company's policy is to have workers crawl in and make a visual
inspection if the screened vents in a crawl space are open or
broken, Zeidler said. If the vent is intact, workers are instructed
to open it and shine a flashlight inside for a better look.
Sowersby showed photos of a broken vent, but testified that the
tenant told her she blocked it with plastic jugs filled with gravel
and rocks.
Zeidler said his workers weren't questioned about the Valley
Greens job until several months afterward, and added that it would
be difficult for workers to remember the details of any particular
job.
"My men work a lot of hours," he said. "They do
a lot of houses."
Cats also tend to hide when they go into subareas of houses,
Zeidler said, unlike dogs, who will come to workers when called.
"You can search and search, and they'll hide." If they
are found and won't leave, he said, workers will spray them with
a garden hose.
"I had one that took me three hours" to get out from
under a house, he said.
Hearing officer Gregory Gee, chief deputy agricultural commissioner
for Alameda County, said he would review the evidence and return
a judgment in 30 days.
Kevin Howe can be reached at 646-4416 or khowe@montereyherald.com.
