Concerned mother Lacey Espinoza said she found nine squirrel "bait balls" in her front yard on Tuesday.
She has an 18-month-old who loves to play in the dirt and two dogs. Espinoza said she filed a report with Kern County Sheriff and has no idea why this happened.
"I hope that it is only us so that other people have to go through this, because I wouldn't wish this sort of thing on anybody you know the death of a pet, the death of a child possibly," Espinoza said.
Espinoza said last April she found a note on their truck that said to keep her dogs quiet. In August, she said one of her dogs had seizures and died. Then on Tuesday she found these "bait balls."
"Whoever feels like they have that much of a grudge, should just be a human being and talk to somebody else, not do this sort of thing where you could injure other people that don't deserve it," Espinoza said.
She said the neighborhood is a good safe area and that they have never experienced something like this. She adds that now she is constantly checking her yard to ensure her child's safety.
23ABC spoke with the Agricultural Commissioner and they said they could not confirm or deny that the seeds in these balls are Rozol, a grain pesticide that is not available in stores.
Local farmers who work regularly with pesticides say it looks pretty close. "A lot of these seeds have certain dyes and certain smells they emit to keep, to remind you that they're not good and it's not natural," Derek Fugitt said.
The Ag Department said they could not test for the pesticide unless there is a suspect in the case.
