These flies are really buggin’ me

INVASION OF THE FLIES

Our neighborhood, to the west of the Morgan Hill Community Park, has been invaded by flies. There are thousands and thousands of them. The outside of homes look like they have been sprinkled with pepper. Open garages “buzz” with their activity. Everytime an outside door is opened they fly in. We have even found them inside the refrigerator. This has become a health hazard, that we believe was triggered by the farmer dumping many truck loads of vegetables onto the ground in the nearby pasture. We have currently contacted the City Code Enforcement office and the county Vector Control Office, looking for solutions, but would welcome any assistance and suggestions you can provide.

• Dear Bugged by Flies:

Unfortunately, the Crimson Crusader never received an e-mail from you last week regarding this issue. However, we are familiar with the problem and did talk to a few of the neighbors. Apparently the farmer was feeding his cattle leftover material from a food packing facility. This seemed to be the apparent cause of the fly issue. Red Phone then contacted Vector Control and found that they had already been in contact with the farmer regarding the issue. Since that time he has taken steps to mitigate the problem and we have heard the situation has improved. It sounds like the farmer did not realize the impact this may have and we have been told that he is not using this product anymore. 

 If you need any more specifics on what was done, you may want to contact Vector Control since they were the lead agency with this issue. They can be contacted at (408) 918-4770.

Feral cats perform a needed service

I’m calling about the article in the Morgan Hill Times, and it says do you want feral cats killed or not killed. We have cats here in our yard on county property; we feed them, we take care of them.

Even the shop mechanics, they like them because they keep all the rats and mice and squirrels away from eating the wires on all the vehicles here. Since we’ve been feeding these cats there have been no more problems with wires getting eaten on the vehicles. So I’m calling to let you know me and my cowokers we’re against this plan to trap and kill the cats.

• Dear Cat Admirer: Good point. Feral cats are a benefit to many who own barns, garages and other buildings they want free of vermin. The problem is that when you feed them and get them good and healthy, they will go out and do what all healthy mammals want to do – mate.

And the next thing you know you have twice as many cats as you do this year and not enough food for them. If you really want to be part of the solution, trap your cats, take them in to a vet or one of the nonprofit spay and neuter clinics and get them fixed before re-releasing them onto your property to do their noble work of vermin control.