Sask. hunting organization offers to put gophers in the crosshairs for farmers

Their chubby cheeks, curious nature and playful behavior are endearing to many, but to farmers they’re destructive pests.  

Gophers, also known as Richardson’s ground squirrels, cost farmers thousands of dollarsby destroying crops and creating burrows that can damage machinery and endanger livestock.

The Pest Management Regulatory Agency banned the use of strychnine to control their numbers in 2024 because it poses risks to other wildlife, including endangered species, through secondary poisoning and is considered inhumane.

Last year, the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation (SWF) started offering a free gopher control program in an effort to fill the gap.

“It comes out of requests for gopher control over the course of a couple of years,” executive director Todd Smith said.

Farmers can contact the organization if they want to take advantage of the offer.

“We’ll take their name and contact information, and then what we’ll do is we will forward that information to the branch that’s closest to their location within the province. That branch will have designated members kind of set up that have agreed to participate,” Smith said.

The hunters are all volunteers, some of whom are able to suggest the names of farmers who might need assistance, he said, noting SWF members are covered by $5 million in liability insurance. They’ll do the job in a responsible and ethical way, he said.

James Husband, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Hazelwood, said the program is a good thing, but it doesn’t combat the bigger issue.

“Gophers overpopulate faster than you can control them. Also with that, if you’re hunting gophers, you’re getting the ones that are on the surface, and come the 10th of April, the ones that are breeding and causing them to multiply never come above the ground.”

He said strychnine was effective because it would get into the gophers’ burrows, and the best time to prevent population growth is when the rodents come out of hibernation.

Edmond Sanganyado, an associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan, said he considers shooting gophers a more humane solution to the problem than poison.

“If it’s a professional who’s actually doing the shooting. That means the animal actually died from between seconds to minutes after the shooting,” he said.

Strychnine causes rapid onset of muscular convulsion and seizures. Death can happen within minutes to hours.

Adult male gophers emerge from mid-February to early March; females follow in mid-March. Now is the time to hunt them, Smith said.

“If you can get the gophers before the kits are born, then you’re reducing the potential impact on a farmer’s crop and livelihood.”

Some farmers have found ways that don’t involve guns.

“More recently we’ve been using a zinc phosphide because strychnine hasn’t been available for the last several years and that’s OK,” said farmer Don Connick.

“But it is not as effective as strychnine, as well as a lot more labour intensive and it is more expensive.”