Gophers will have a bounty on their tails this spring as the
Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation uses a gopher derby to control their
teeming populations.
From April 1 to June 23, Saskatchewan residents who turn in the most
gopher tails will receive cash prizes.
Gophers, also known as Richardson’s ground squirrels, must be collected
in the province. Their tails must be submitted frozen and in bundles of
10.
Entrants pay a $20 fee to enter, with half the money raised going to
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the winners. The remainder goes to a trust fund to sustain wildlife
habitat.
Len Jabush, business manager of the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation, a
branch of the SWF, said response has been “unbelievably overwhelming”
since the derby was announced Feb. 19. Jabush has fielded calls from
media across Canada. Even the BBC in England called for an interview.
He expected 2,000 entrants and printed 10,000 entry forms, but now is
scrambling to print more.
SWF saw the derby as a way to help farmers who allow hunters on their
land and who are plagued by the rodents potholing their fields.
“We don’t want to wipe them out. We want to get them down to
controllable numbers,” he said. “When the numbers are so high, there’s
always a problem, it doesn’t matter what (species) it is.”
The derby was also seen as an alternative to the use of poisons. “We’re
saying let’s try this first,” Jabush said.
SWF came up with the idea last year, and decided to name it for
longtime member Ken Turcot, an avid competitive hand gun and rifle man.
“When he wasn’t doing that, he was out shooting gophers,” said Jabush
of Turcot, who died recently.
Frances Wach, executive director of Saskatchewan’s Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, accepts pest control as a part of
agricultural practice in Saskatchewan, provided it is done humanely.
“A lot of poisons aren’t humane,” she said.
Scott Hartley of Saskatchewan Agriculture said his department supports
reducing gopher populations if the killing is done humanely and local
regulations and gun laws are followed.
He cautioned that fewer gophers means less food for creatures that feed
on them: “If the population goes too low, it could affect further up
the food chain.”
