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UC Davis Gives Squirrels Birth Control

We'd like to take a moment of your time to pass along this incredibly interesting news: UC Davis plans to start giving squirrels on campus birth control.

According to UC Davis officials, the non-native tree squirrel population is growing out of control, causing damage to local farms and orchards and campus facilities, and posing risk of injury to people, especially children trying to feed the squirrels. Researchers will tag the squirrels and observe them for several months, then recapture them and give some the birth control and others a placebo; they hope this plan will lead the squirrel population to decrease within the next 5-10 years. If the birth control works, researchers hope to be able to use it on other wild animal pests, such as deer.

Hopefully they aren't planning to focus on ducks next; the PSC 41 classes won't have any animals left to observe. Perhaps the crows?

Other UC Davis articles:
UC Davis Improves Emergency Response System with WarnMe
Fields in West Davis to Become Student Housing