Dedicated to the Preservation of Prairie Dogs and their Habitat
EDGEWOOD, N.M. (KRQE) – Three dogs tested positive for plague in the East Mountains.
State health officials say the dogs were from within several miles of Edgewood, but say Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties are also affected.
Plague is a bacterial disease transmitted by infected fleas and rodents.
Officials recommend cleaning near the house where rodents could live, such as woodpiles and abandoned cars.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Hundreds of buffalo are under quarantine in North Dakota and South Dakota after an illegal poison was used to kill prairie dogs.
An Environmental Protection Agency investigation earlier found 40,000 pounds of Rozol poison had been distributed across 5,400 acres on the former Cannonball Ranch near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and the Wilder Ranch which straddles both states to the south.
Read More: find local hook ups
The City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Department wants to reintroduce the federally endangered black-footed ferret to manage the prairie dog colonies at Soapstone Prairie Natural Area north of Fort Collins.
But first, the city needs approval from the state, after receiving the go-ahead from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2013. On Saturday, Gov. John Hickenlooper will attend a signing ceremony at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery to sign a bill allowing the native black-footed ferret to be brought into Soapstone Prairie and Meadow Springs Ranch, both owned by Fort Collins. The ceremony will be at 11 a.m.
The black-footed ferret, a rare indigenous mammal with perky ears and a black mask of fur, relies on prairie dogs for its main food source and resides in prairie dog burrows.
“Without prairie dogs, you don’t have ferrets,” said Daylan Figgs, senior environmental planner for the Natural Areas Department.
Read More: Ferrets
Spring marks the annual beginning of an increasingly popular non-lethal method of removing 
unwanted prairie dogs: Relocation of entire segments to more suitable and protected habitat.
But the job isn’t for sissies or the faint of heart, because there is a huge amount of work and preparation involved, with a variety of associated challenges, including potentially fatal consequences for a number of prairie dogs—sometimes even if the job is done by experts.
Read More: Relocation
By LARRY PHILLIPS
• Leader & Times
Though many people, including children, adore prairie dogs because of their cute, furry looks, cities and counties classify them as a nuisance and deal with them accordingly.
Liberal and Seward County are no different.
After numerous phone calls to the L&T asking what happened to the prairies dogs that lived just south of the railroad tracks on Pershing Avenue, L&T contacted the city.
The city has admitted the prairie dogs were poisoned in an attempt to control them from spreading throughout the area.
read more: Pershing
Prairie dogs, those little furry critters populating parts of Clovis, are getting a new home and a free bubble bath 
courtesy of the folks at Eco Solutions of Santa Fe.
Read more at: Eco Solutions
JEFFERSON COUNTY —The Ken-Caryl Ranch Master Association is exploring options for dealing with the prairie dog population near the community’s Manor House property.
The more than 40-acre space near the Manor House, 1 Manor House Road, has seen an increase in the prairie dog population and some residents are glad the master association is beginning to take action.
“The whole purpose of open space is to protect it. When prairie dogs take over and destroy it, it has the opposite effect,” resident Marian Miaskiewicz said. Miaskiewicz’s property backs up to the Manor House open space and she said that there are several prairie dog holes in her backyard. She also said that they attract other animals such as snakes.
The hot seat just got hotter for the rogue agency that’s responsible for the cruel and indiscriminate killing of millions of animals every year in the U.S., following a request for an investigation and congressional review made by two senators.
Wildlife Services (WS) began as Animal Damage Control, which started out killing pests and added predators to its list of targets in 1914. The agency has since expanded its services and has continued killing hundreds of thousands of native animals every year under the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s inspector general will investigate a federal agency whose mission is to exterminate birds, coyotes, mountain lions and other animals that threaten the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers.
The investigation of U.S. Wildlife Services is to determine, among other things, “whether wildlife damage management activities were justified and effective.” Biologists have questioned the agency’s effectiveness, arguing that indiscriminately killing more than 3 million birds and other wild animals every year is often counterproductive.
Read more: Wildlife
Conservation and animal welfare organizations have joined forces to submit written comments urging the U.S. Forest Service to consider an alternative plan to poison prairie dog colonies on Wyoming’s Thunder Basin National Grassland within ¼ mile of private or state land.
The Humane Society of the United States, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, WildEarth Guardians and others are leaders in this initiative that would save an estimated 16,000 prairie dogs.
In 2009, after years of planning and public input, officials set aside 85,000 acres in the Thunder Basin National Grassland as an area where prairie dogs would be protected from poisons and shooting. Today, this area contains the best prairie dog habitat on any National Grassland in America, but the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed plan would shrink this protected area by 22,000 acres.
Lindsey Sterling Krank, director of the Prairie Dog Coalition of The HSUS stated, “The Forest Service has to find a non-lethal and humane way to manage prairie dogs on Thunder Basin rather than spending taxpayer dollars on poison. The public and our nation’s wildlife deserve better.”
Read more: HSUS
On farms and ranches across America, prairie dogs are target practice.
In the city of Santa Fe, the furry little critters get bubble baths, leftover Big Macs and protection under an ordinance requiring their “humane relocation” if they live on property slated for commercial construction.
Even the city government, which has a statue of its patron saint in front of City Hall making eye contact with a prairie dog, is loath to hurt the burrowing rodents.
Since the ordinance passed in 2001, the city has incurred $559,000 in relocation costs, much to the chagrin of one city councilor.
Read more: Santa Fe
Read more: Abq Journal
After several months of back and forth between a citizens group and city commissioners, a request to relocate prairie dogs to a county in Texas was tabled indefinitely Thursday by the Clovis City Commission.
Clovis is at it again. Look at this comment:
According to Lansford: “I would like to stop the policy of even considering the relocation of prairie dogs,” he said. “We need to quit the discussion. We need a city policy that basically just says we don’t relocate prairie dogs period.”
Read more at: Lansford
Wildlife conflicts are a real problem in some communities, but hunting is not the solution. Whether the problem is deer eating tulips or colliding with cars, Lyme disease, or bears getting into garbage, there is always an effective, nonlethal way to handle it.
I am sending this urgently to you all because this 18th century “solution” does not belong in the 21st century! I am asking EVERYONE who reads this to write to Time and challenge this guy’s assumptions, information, credentials, WHATEVER! I am APPALLED to read such a treatise for killing in this day and age!
However, I think Non Sequitur had it nailed! 
You can read the time article at: TIME
BOULDER- The City of Boulder is relocating about 500 prairie dogs to nearby grasslands, because they are causing some damage to the Foothills Community Park.
The project comes up to about $66,000 to move all of the prairie dogs. That works out to just over $132 per animal.
Read more at: Boulder
With apologies to West Side Story….
I love to live in New Mexico
Everything’s shot in New Mexico
Guns are prizes in New Mexico
Nothing is safe in New Mexico
You can describe New Mexico in so many ways: big skies with mind-boggling sunsets, politically diverse, expansive, neighborly, God fearing, home of tourist attractions from national parks to soaring balloons, rough-hewn cowboys pulling up a bar chair next to Santa Fe sophisticates.
I would also call it unimaginative. 
Our gun contests are boring. Let me make it clear up front. While there is a chance, if pressed, I might come down on the side of those who find such contests ill advised, my purpose here is not to argue the point.
Read more at: Portales News-Tribune
The city of Denver is taking the right approach by installing perches near bothersome prairie dog colonies to encourage birds of prey to do their thing.
Nature can be harsh, but it’s still preferable to gassing the animals or relocating them.
As a Post story recently explained, prairie dogs can destroy grass habitat necessary to support other wild animals. The raptor poles near Central Park in Stapleton encourage hawks — red-tailed, Swainson’s and ferruginous — as well as other birds of prey to come around for meal time.
Such a tactic encourages natural control of prairie dog populations, and increases the food supply for hawks. A double win.
My goal in writing this article is to help educate people about prairie dogs, and to provide people with objective information backed by valid scientific research. As many of us in New Mexico live among prairie dogs, I feel it is especially critical that people are well educated about these native animals.
What are prairie dogs?
Prairie dogs are large, colonial, ground-nesting squirrels. They live in large communities (colonies) in grassland habitats. They are highly social animals, and have evolved a complex language system. Prairie dogs eat grasses and weeds, and they will clip grasses to enable them to detect predators. They live in family units called coteries that consist of usually one male and several females. Females often remain in the same burrow system during their lifetime and juvenile males leave the burrow during their first year. Prairie dogs usually live for about 5 years in the wild.
What species do we have in New Mexico?
Both black-tailed prairie dogs and Gunnison’s prairie dogs occur within New Mexico.
Black-tailed prairie dogs are the most social of all the prairie dog species, and occur in the Great Plains region. They used to be common in the eastern and southwestern part of New Mexico, but have been eliminated from most of their native habitat within the state.
Gunnison’s prairie dogs occur throughout the four corners region and are found in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Socorro, Gallup, and Grants. Gunnison’s prairie dogs also have declined significantly, and have been petitioned to be listed under the endangered species list.
Prairie dog reproduction
Prairie dogs are not prolific breeders. They only have one litter per year, consisting of about four young, of which only two usually survive.
The ecological role of prairie dogs
Prairie dogs were once among the most numerous and widespread herbivores in North American grasslands. Human activities such as habitat destruction and poisoning efforts have significantly reduced prairie dog populations. Three of the five species are federally listed as threatened or endangered. The most widespread species, the black-tailed prairie dog, now occupies less than 2% of its historical range. Scientists studying prairie dogs have estimated that at least 163 animal species are associated with prairie dog colonies, indicating that the prairie dog is a “keystone” (i.e., critically important) species in these ecosystems. Prairie dogs create ecological disturbances resulting in a diverse landscape that provides a variety of habitats for many plant and animal species, including black-footed ferrets, rabbits, squirrels, lizards, snakes, burrowing owls, and invertebrates. Prairie dogs also affect grassland plant species composition and vegetation structure and enhance soil and plant nutritional quality, which benefits antelope, bison, and cattle.
Prairie dog eradication has caused significant biological degradation and decline in biological diversity on grasslands in North America. Research has found that prairie dogs inhibit woody plants from invading grasslands, and has indicated that the elimination of these rodents has played a significant role in desertification of grasslands. In addition, removal of prairie dogs causes secondary extinctions of other species, altering the entire food web associated with prairie dogs. For example, the black-footed ferret, burrowing owl, mountain plover, and ferruginous hawk are among the most endangered prairie dog-dependent species. Despite their importance, people often want to exterminate prairie dogs because of misconceptions about proliferation, children being bitten, destruction of landscaped areas, plague, competition for forage with livestock, and animals breaking their legs in the burrows.
Are they dangerous to humans?
Prairie dogs are not a threat to children. They are timid animals, and when approached by humans, prairie dogs quickly scurry into the safety of their burrows. People should never hand feed prairie dogs or try to grab them. Hand feeding may cause the animals to be accustomed to humans, and result in bites when humans get too close.
Prairie dogs and hantavirus
Prairie dogs are not known to contract or transmit hantaviruses. Worldwide, hantaviruses are associated with deer mice and other rodents in the family Muridae, which are distant relatives of prairie dogs (Squirrels, in the family Sciuridae).
Prairie dogs and plague
Prairie dogs do not carry plague. Plague is a non-native disease, introduced to North America from Europe by humans. Prairie dogs have not evolved immunity to plague, and therefore, it kills 99% of the individuals in an infected colony. Plague has been a major contributor to causing the decline in prairie dog populations.
Fleas carry the plague. These fleas can be found on many wild animals, and are not limited to prairie dogs. Killing prairie dogs just causes fleas to search for another host, and is not recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) as an effective method of plague control. The key to preventing plague is to control fleas, not prairie dogs. Avoiding contact with dead wild animals and dusting pets and rodent burrows with flea powder can successfully prevent plague. Plague is also easily overcome with antibiotics when detected early, so people should educate themselves about the symptoms of plague. A colony of active prairie dogs is indicative of healthy, plague-free prairie dogs, and should not cause concern.
What if they are damaging the landscape in your yard?
If prairie dogs are causing damage to landscaped areas, you can use visual barriers such as vegetation or low walls and additional below ground barriers to contain the animals. Prairie dogs are highly discouraged by tall vegetation, so plant native shrubs and do not mow native grasses. Xeriscaping the area will also help discourage prairie dogs, and conserve water.
How to get rid of prairie dogs
Rat poison should not be used to kill prairie dogs because it causes secondary poisoning of dogs, cats, and other animals, and is dangerous to children. The only legal method for killing prairie dogs involves the use of poisonous gas by licensed professionals (in most states), which is costly. The poisonous gases used are inhumane, causing slow and painful deaths, and can take up to 72 hours to induce death in an animal. During which time the animals suffer from burning of the mucus membranes to paralysis.
The best recommendation is to learn to live with these native animals, and, if for some reason, prairie dogs must be removed, you can contact professional relocators in the state that can be referred by People for Native Ecosystems (PNE) (505) 982-0496 or the City of Santa Fe Permit Development and Review (505) 955-6480. Prairie Dog Pals of Albuquerque also conducts some relocations, though mostly on public lands.
Shooting prairie dogs
Shooting is often used as a means of reducing the size of a prairie dog colony. Varmint hunters gather together in many states where prairie dogs occur to shoot them. They do not eat the prairie dogs; rather, they shoot them with rifles for target practice fun. In our national grasslands, bullet shells and literally exploded prairie dogs can be found littering the colonies. It is important to keep in mind that that these are highly social animals that are greatly affected by the shooting of their family members. Prairie dogs have become threatened species and are not prolific breeders, so sport shooting should be banned.
Do prairie dogs compete with cattle for forage?
Recent research has found that prairie dogs compete little for forage with cattle (~5%). In fact, by clipping grasses, prairie dogs eliminate old plant tissue and stimulate new plant growth. New plant growth contains more protein, so the nutritional quality of the vegetation on prairie dog colonies is greater than off colonies, despite the lower quantity of vegetation. Cattle have been found to gain similar to more weight when foraging on prairie dog colonies than off. Keep in mind that prairie dogs and bison have coexisted for millions of years, and bison and other ungulates consistently prefer to graze on prairie dog colonies.
What about falling into prairie dog holes?
The myth that cattle fall into prairie dog holes apparently began in the late 1800’s. During this time, cattle were over-stocked on rangeland here in the Southwest. Cattle were overgrazing the lands, and combined with a 25 year drought period at the end of the century, many of the grasslands became desertified. There was little forage for cattle to eat and many became sick and lethargic, causing some of the cattle to apparently fall into the burrows. A healthy cow slowly grazes with its head down and does not fall into burrows. Remember, bison evolved along with prairie dogs.
Some people like to ride their horses in the mountains but feel they can’t because prairie dog burrows are present. My advice is not to run your horse on a prairie dog colony, and find an alternative place to ride. These animals no longer occur in large colonies due to their population declines, and therefore, it should not be difficult to find an alternative place to ride. If we live in the mountains or are recreationally enjoying them it is important to remember that wildlife are present in these areas and we need to learn how to live with them, not eliminate them because they are in our way.
Prairie dogs as pets
Prairie dogs express social behavior that humans can relate to, but they do not make good pets. Because they are highly social animals, they should never be kept in isolation. Prairie dogs require considerable attention, and also are highly active with lots of energy and desire to chew and dig. They often will chew furniture when let out of their cage and will dig at rugs, tearing them up. In addition, prairie dogs have a breeding season each year, during which their hormones change and they can become aggressive. During this time even friendly prairie dogs can bite. Moreover, most prairie dogs sold as pets are taken directly from the wild. They have not been bred in captivity for generations, unlike most animals that we have for pets. Keep in mind that dogs have been domesticated for 10,000 years. Because prairie dogs have not been domesticated, they exhibit wild tendencies and may not always be friendly to the people they live with.
Wild prairie dogs sold for pets are often collected from areas where landowners want to reduce or eliminate the prairie dog population on their land. These prairie dogs have been acquired through unregulated harvest to provide profit for the pet trade. Some of the methods used to obtain prairie dogs for pets, such as removing prairie dogs with a “sucker truck,” a truck with a vacuum hose, are inhumane. The pet trade contributes to the decline of the species. If prairie dogs must be removed or controlled in an area, the animals should be humanely relocated to appropriate areas where their populations are desired.
Current efforts to protect prairie dogs within the state
Currently there are no efforts established to protect the Gunnison’s prairie dogs. However, both the city of Albuquerque and of Santa Fe do not allow the poisoning of this species within the city limits. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has determined that black-tailed prairie dogs have declined significantly throughout their range and that their status as a threatened species is “warranted but precluded.” Meaning that there are significant threats affecting the long-term viability of the black-tailed prairie dog, but there are insufficient resources to protect this species. The limited funds available to the USFWS for threatened and endangered species is currently being used for species that are of greater concern.
Game and fish departments from most states in which prairie dogs occur have established black-tailed prairie dog working groups. These working groups are designed to develop a management plan to reduce the decline of prairie dogs so that listing will not be necessary.
Why are they endangered? I see so many of them!
Often people think that because they see “lots” of prairie dogs that they couldn’t be declining. Keep in mind that they once occurred in huge numbers (~5 billion) throughout most of the grasslands in the central United States. They have declined greatly relative to their former abundance. There are many large threats affecting their populations: continued poisoning and shooting, habitat loss through development and desertification, and plague. In addition, many animal species that are dependent on the prairie dog require large colonies in order to support them. Most of the prairie dog colonies have become fragmented and isolated from one another, which lowers the long-term viability of maintaining the population and the other species dependent on them. The plight of the prairie dog is analogous to the passenger pigeon, once one of the most abundant and common species that has now become extinct due to human persecution.
How you can help
People are greatly needed to help in education, legislation, and relocation efforts. Contact a local wildlife organization such as Prairie Dog Pals or People for Native Ecosystems (contact info above) if you have an interest in helping the prairie dogs. You can also find more information about prairie dogs on the web at http://www.prairiedogs.org and http://www.gprc.org .
Ana D. Davidson, Ph.D.
Department of Biology
The University of New Mexico
Q: We have small children and a cat, but we also have a gopher problem in our backyard. They’ve been digging up the new lawn we had put in. Is there a safe way to get rid of them? C.M., Corrales
A: Pocket gophers construct burrows under the ground using their strong forelegs, enlarged claws and even their teeth. Their vision is poor because of their habitat. Their hearing is poor, too. When the gopher digs, it kicks the dirt behind it with its hind feet. When a lot of loose dirt has accumulated, it turns around and pushes the dirt to the surface using its forepaws and face. The resulting mounds are an indication of their presence in your yard.
Gophers feed on the underground portions of plants, but will occasionally come to the surface and pull green vegetation underground. They live alone in their tunnel system, but males will enter female tunnels during mating season, usually early in the year. Female gophers will have one to seven young at a time. The baby gophers will disperse on the ground when they are mature enough to leave their mother and often fall victim to predators at this time. They usually have only one litter per year.
Actually they are very beneficial animals. A single gopher can move about a ton of soil to the surface every year. Their tunnels are constructed and then fill up with dirt as they are abandoned. The old tunnels contain the nests, waste material and partially filled pantries well below the surface where they become important as fertilizer.
Soil that has been compacted by cattle trampling, grazing and machinery is benefited by the tunneling process of gophers. In the mountains, snow and rainfall are temporarily held in gopher burrows instead of running across the surface, causing soil erosion. The mounds the gophers make also bury vegetation deeper, thus increasing soil quality over time. Additionally, fresh soil in the mounds provides a fresh seeding area for new plants, which may increase the variety of plants on a site. Gophers are also in the food chain and are fed upon by large birds, other mammals and snakes. Other animals such as lizards and toads take refuge in the cool, moist burrows.
As much as I am trying to make the case that gophers have a place in our area, there are times when we have to control them. Poisons are available, but I never recommend them. Most of the gopher baits contain strychnine, diphacinone, chlorophacinone or zinc phosphide. None of these rodenticides are very pleasant and accidents can result with other animals digging them up.
There are traps available that can be placed in the burrows, but they are not easy to use and have only limited success. I have found that the best method of gopher control is simply asking them to move. You can do this by pouring a foul smelling liquid into their tunnel system. Fish oil emulsion works and I have been told that castor oil is also effective. Since gophers generally live alone, once they move, they are not likely to return unless they are forced to move again, so a repellent can be very effective.
When using a repellent, you will have to probe the dirt to find their tunnels. Generally a tunnel will run straight between two mounds and they are normally about 18 inches below the surface. You can use a metal rod or even a pool cue to probe the dirt. Once you hit the tunnel, the probe will fall through. Then take a long-stem funnel such as used to put oil in cars and place it in the hole created by the probe. Pour the repellent into the funnel and move on to the next tunnel.
Q: Since the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency just announced that the agency would be controlling greenhouse gases, will this have an effect on the usage of sulfuryl fluoride (Vikane) in fumigations? — D.L. Albuquerque
A: Absolutely. Researchers calculated that one kilogram of sulfuryl fluoride emitted into the atmosphere has a global warming potential approximately 4,800 times greater than one kilogram of carbon dioxide. That is pretty impressive.
Go to http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=965 for information. The chemical’s annual use in California creates emissions equivalent to the carbon dioxide produced by 1 million cars and California accounts for 60 percent of the sulfuryl fluoride used in the world.
We don’t use anywhere near that amount in New Mexico, but it is registered for use here and has been used occasionally when drywood termites are found in a home. I believe with a record like this, sulfuryl fluoride won’t be around much longer.
Contact him: Richard “Bugman” Fagerlund, an entomologist, owns and operates “Ask the Bugman” Common Sense Pest Management. He can be reached by phone at 385-2820 or by e-mail at richardfagerlund@yahoo.com. His Web site is www.askthebugman.com.
Prairie Dog Pals receives frequent calls about mysterious animals burrowing in people’s yards. Typically, residents are alerted to the presence of these animals by fresh mounds of dirt. There are no apparent burrows and the responsible animal is infrequently seen. While prairie dogs can be dispersed by construction, disturbance, or by territorial issues, in most cases the burrowing animal is a pocket gopher. To help homeowners cope with these uninvited guests we have prepared this overview of pocket gophers, their habits and some suggested interventions.
What are pocket gophers?
A pocket gopher
Pocket gophers of New Mexico and much of the west are not to be confused with animals of trans-planted New Mexicans former homes, like gopher tortoises of southeastern U.S., gopher snakes of the Midwest and West, or “gophers,” another common name for some species of ground squirrels (with stripes or spots on back). True pocket gophers are actually rodents distantly related to pocket mice and kangaroo rats but are even more adapted for digging. They do share with the night-active pocket mice and kangaroo rats the fur-lined cheek pouches for temporary transport of their food. Unlike moles that occur in areas such as the eastern U.S. and the Pacific northwest that are wetter, most pocket gophers occur in drier soils of grasslands and deserts. Moles are insectivores and have peg-like teeth for breaking up insects, earthworms, and other invertebrates, while pocket gophers eat plant material.
There are seven different species of pocket gophers in New Mexico and more than 35 are found in the Americas from Canada to Costa Rica. Only one species occurs east of the Mississippi River. They vary from 5 to 7 inches inches long and weigh from 6 to 8 ounces. They have two pairs of incisor teeth to cut roots and shoots and complex molars to grind the plants up. They have paddle shaped front feet for digging through the soil and a small sensitive tail that allows them to back up in their dark burrows.
What do pocket gophers do?
Gopher mounds
Pocket gophers dig and often leave mounds of soil heaped over the plug of their exit/entrance hole. Prairie dogs do not make mounds but do dig holes that enter to their underground burrow. Sometimes there are volcano-like craters around a prairie dog hole. If you can see an open hole in the ground then it is not a pocket gopher. Pocket gophers hide their hole by plugging them when not in use. Pocket gophers spend about 99% of the time below ground level in search of fleshy plant roots, bulbs, and shoots.
Should I worry about pocket gophers digging?
If they were in your lawn, I would say no. The plants they target are broad-leaved plants and your grasses are narrow leaved plants with unappealing narrow roots. The fussy lawn keeper regards the broad-leaved plants as weeds. So the pocket gophers are helping the average gardener and lawn keeper weed their property! Cool, huh? And they do it for free!
What else do they do?
These little guys (and gals too) spend their time wandering through their maze of underground tunnels and digging new ones. Their digging action brings deep soil rich in minerals to the surface, thereby mixing it. Their droppings fertilize the soil adding nitrogen and organic matter. Their tunnels allow for the mixing of oxygen and carbon dioxide to allow your plant roots to breathe. They are doing this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year…for free! They are in fact master gardeners!
What if I don’t like those stupid mounds?
Take the backside of a rake and stroke it across the gopher mound until smooth. Repeat when you see other mounds. They only make the mounds when they are digging new tunnels. Although they don’t hibernate, their moundbuilding peaks in the spring when the soil gets warmer and after rains during and after the monsoon season of late summer.
What if they are in my flowerbed or garden?
Providing that your gopher-free zone is small and your prize flowers very valuable, you may want to circle your entire area with hardware cloth. The openings in the wire must be smaller than inch so they can’t penetrate. Early in the spring I would dig up the bed and lay the hardware cloth folding it in the corners; I would let it extend above ground level by about 6 inches so that the gophers can’t just crawl over the top. This whole process is a lot of labor. The simple way out: You can transfer each of your precious flowers from the ground to rattan planters inside your house or in an area that cannot be accessible to those little buggers. This way, you can ensure that nobody dares to harm your most-prized possessions!
What about pouring different liquids into the soil?
Liquids are a real mixed bag and can be classed as poisonous and nonpoisonous ones. If they are poisonous to a pocket gopher, then they could be poisonous to our dogs or people. This is true especially around vegetable gardens. Prairie Dog Pals does not recommend their use.
Non-poisonous, non-toxic liquids are advertised to “get rid” of gophers as well. No one backs the idea that they actually work, except the folks that sell them. Some of these products may have some merit but are untested in a scientific experiment. They include: fish emulsion, Castor bean oil, cat urine, capsicum or pepper oil, garlic extract, etc. Pine oil shows some promise. There is even one interesting mixture that has been proposed by Jan Hays of Sandia Mountain Bear Watch in her booklet A Guide for Wildlife Stewards:
Mix 4 tablespoons each of liquid dish soap, urine, and castor oil with cup of warm water. Add this mixture to 2 gallons of warm water and apply.
*Please see disclaimer at the bottom.
Can I trap them?
Many kinds of pocket gophers are common, but some are rare and protected. First, check with your state wildlife and city humane departments. If it is legal in your area, the live trap Prairie Dog Pals recommends is the Baker-Williams live pocket gopher trap for residential situations. Instead of doing it yourself, you could call in the Pest Control experts in your local area who can humanely trap and re-release the gophers in a safe place. Remember, it takes a fair amount of determination to successfully trap them, but here are the basics. Prior to trapping you must select and prepare a nearby site for release. Find exit/entrance hole by brushing aside dirt of mound with hands. Look for a darker circle. This will be the plugged hole. With iron rebar, carefully probe around for a connecting runway. The rebar probe will sink easily when it hits the air pocket of the runway. Dig down until you can see a runway. Set either one trap (or two traps if the runway goes in both directions) with open end into runway at a gentle slope. Check each hour to keep animal alive and healthy. A carrot can be inserted into end of trap to keep the little guy/gal happy while you prepare for the relocation. Prepare a release tunnel with an auger or long spade by digging down about 2-3 feet. Insert pocket gopher by placing the open end of the trap into the hole. After the animal is in its new home, cover the hole with excess soil. There are other options for golf greens and other similar type lands.
What other ideas are there for non-toxic control?
Here are a few control ideas that may show promise. Plant plants that gophers don’t like. Install vibration devices. Plant plants only in plastic or tile pots. Encourage and allow gopher predators to frequent the area. For instance, you might want to construct owl boxes or create raptor perches to encourage those animals to stay in your yard. Enclose the yard for free range of your pet dog or cat in the backyard. Also, remember to mow your lawn at regular intervals (perhaps by using Bobcat Mowers) and keep it clean of rubbish. Gophers are attracted to hiding spaces. That is one of the reasons why they could also use the gaps and crevices in the trash to make their festering grounds (hence, the need for cleaning). Consider hiring a service that provides Household rubbish removals if you have unnecessary trash in your backyard. Keeping the area clean will also let you immediately know if there is a gopher intrusion.
What if I still can’t stand pocket gophers?
I would suggest you get a copy of the classic movie “Caddie Shack” with comic Bill Murray on a fictitious madcap quest to catch a mythical “gopher.” Watch the tube, pop open a cold drink, chill, and have a good laugh.
If you still want us to 1) live-trap your pocket gophers or 2) use other nontoxic methods on a trial basis, then contact us. Our going rate is $35 per hour for our live-capture and deterrent application services. Spring is a good time. However, during the summer we are heavily involved with prairie dog relocation.
*For the reasons mentioned above Prairie Dog Pals does not recommend liquids or poisons of any kind to solve pocket gopher problems. Keep these liquids out of reach of unwary humans, children, pets and wildlife.
by Paul Polechla Jr., Ph.D.