COCHRANE, Alta. – An Alberta engineer believes he has developed an
ideal way to kill gophers.
Don and Joan Sutherland moved to a Cochrane acreage from Calgary a few
years ago. They quickly discovered the gophers, more accurately called
Richardson’s ground squirrels, had taken up residence in their lawn and
pastures and under buildings.
A geological engineer, Sutherland was determined not to let the rodents
get the best of him.
Sutherland’s property is in the centre of the Glenbow Ranch, consisting
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of 16,000 acres of native grassland and an ideal habitat for gophers.
The couple tried traps and many poisons on the market.
Finally, Sutherland decided to try suffocating them with foam.
He began with the same foaming agent used in shampoos, injecting it
into each hole. The gophers revived within 15 minutes.
“When they came to, they were as good as new.”
He then added poisons to foam mixed in water, with experiments ranging
from chlorine to cayenne pepper. When he tried dry mustard from the
kitchen pantry, the system worked.
The foam traps the animals in their burrows and when they try to
breathe, they inhale fine mustard particulates that quickly suffocate
them in their burrows.
The foam is injected into holes with a high-pressure hose and nozzle.
Each hole is plugged with a plastic cone made from a pylon. The cone
acts as a funnel to direct the foam and prevents gophers from escaping.
The foam remains in the burrows for two to four hours and fills every
shelf and curve in the tunnel. The foam gradually disappears and does
not harm the environment.
Sutherland’s tests show gophers die within three minutes and do not
appear to suffer a painful death. After the foam has done its work,
each burrow is filled with dirt.
“If you don’t fill in all the holes, it is like ‘an apartment for rent’
sign,” Sutherland said.
He has removed the gophers from his own property and killed more in a
buffer zone surrounding his acreage.
Two years ago, he worked with the Town of Cochrane to remove gophers
from a park. After the holes were filled in, the gophers did not
return.
The next project in Cochrane is another green area near the Bow River.
“It’s fantastic,” said Dave Anaka of Cochrane’s parks department.
“You’re always going to have people who are plus or minus about it, but
there is nothing worse than playing baseball and breaking your ankle in
a gopher hole.”
He has worked with the Sutherlandsp since they began their control
project. Towns are not allowed to use products like strychnine, so
green areas are pockmarked with holes within arms length of each
other.
“I’ve found this is the best,” Anaka said.”You don’t have to go back
and check your holes afterwards. You fill them in on contact and …
problem solved.”
Saskatchewan Agriculture and a local municipality plan a test project
in July near Lloydminster.
The product is not registered, but the Sutherlands have applied for
approval with the Pest Management Regulatory Agency in Canada and the
United States Department of Agriculture.
