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Gopher GRIEF

Rodent poison controversial -- but not much else works

By: Bill Redekop

Posted: 07/11/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

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Gophers begone: But city’s choice of poison worries pet owner. (DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Where's Bill Murray when you need him to address gopher problems in Winnipeg?

"Carl, I want you to kill all the gophers on the course," his boss, Sandy, tells Murray's character, the greenskeeper, in the movie Caddyshack.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers, they'll lock me up and throw away the key."

"Not golfers, you great git! Gophers -- the little brown, furry rodents!"

The trouble with "gophers" -- a local colloquialism for what are technically Richardson's ground squirrels -- continues today.

The City of Winnipeg has been using the poison Rozol since 2006 to control the gopher population in public parks. City officials regard Rozol as the safest and most humane method of gopher control available.

Some pet owners worry about Rozol poisoning their pets. The city says the holes are filled in after applying Rozol, and that pets would have to consume 10 to 20 kilograms of the stuff for it to be fatal.

Other cities have other methods. The problem for municipal governments is that gopher holes in sports and playing fields cause sprains or worse for athletes.

In Moose Jaw, officials use a pellet called Phostoxin. The pellets sink down below and give off a heavy gas that kills the critters. It's different in Regina. Three city parks there were declared pesticide-free zones, including off-limits to gopher poisoning. Near Calgary, an attempt to eradicate gophers really went squirrelly.

A group of private citizens tried using a new extermination device called the Rodenator. The Rodenator pumps propane and oxygen into a rodent hole. The mixture is then detonated, creating an underground shock wave that's supposed to kill the gophers and collapse their tunnels.

But in this case, it started a massive grass fire that burned down outbuildings and forced the evacuation of homes. Barns, sheds and vehicles sustained fire damage.

As for organic methods, Santa Cruz, Calif., is putting nest boxes to attract barn owls, a natural predator to gophers.

On farms, you can shoot the varmints, but that's dangerous. A man near Great Falls, Mont., was shot in the arm last week by gopher hunters who didn't see him.

Of course, gophers are always a problem for farmers. In Alberta, the province has asked Ottawa for permission to use strychnine, a potent poison that is banned.

In Manitoba, the meal gophers love more than any other crop is canola. The best control is rodenticides. These are grain-based toxic baits applied to burrows, then covered to prevent poisoning non-target animals.

As for golf courses, gophers are not a big problem locally. Mark Jordan, superintendent of Rossmere Country Club, has also worked at Bel Acres and Niakwa golf courses and never had to deal with gophers. In Calgary, he used to have to "stuff a water hose down a hole and they would go running out the other end."

Everyone might take a lesson from Caddyshack. In the movie's finale, Murray's character directs his Green Beret training to try unsuccessfully to blow the gophers to smithereens. He detonates his underground explosives, the explosion causes a lipped golf ball to fall into the cup, and Mr. Gopher emerges from his hole dancing to Kenny Loggins' tune, I'm Alright.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 11, 2010 A8

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