Posted on 04/09/2002 3:09:51 AM PDT by watcher1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The Canadian province of Saskatchewan is offering cash prizes to the top guns in its 2002 gopher-hunting derby, but the plan to rid the Prairie farming region of a plague of the cute, crop-eating rodents is drawing flak from animal rights activists.
"It's a killing derby basically and there's other ways of dealing with wildlife," said Sinikka Crosland, a Canadian nurse who has spearheaded an international letter-writing blitz.
"We're going to have people out there with their firearms blasting away at the gophers," she said.
The 2002 Ken Turcott Memorial Gopher Derby began this week in the western province. Named after a local, avid, gopher exterminator, the derby is sponsored by the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation, which warns that gopher numbers have reached epidemic levels.
The plump, yellowish-gray animals -- officially known as Richardson's ground squirrels, but often referred to as Prairie rats -- feast on crops and burrow into fields, creating holes that can break the legs of unwary livestock or damage farm equipment
"We're just infested with gophers in areas. We're hoping to help out the landowners," said Len Jabush, business manager for the wildlife federation, who admits he has a major public relations headache ahead of him.
"They are cute. I enjoy watching them. But when they get to the point where they get overpopulated in areas, you have to harvest them," he said.
"We're emphasizing that it be done safely, done humanely and not cause any problems for anyone," he added, noting that shooting gophers is better for the environment than the common practice of poisoning them with strychnine.
For decades, Prairie farmers have engaged in a tireless battle to reduce the population of gophers, trying everything from traps to poisons -- even giant vacuums. With their numbers estimated in the millions, the gophers usually win.
And Saskatchewan's gopher population is expected to peak this year because of a lack of snow. Usually run-off from the spring melt flows into gopher dens and drowns many of the animals.
Entrants in the gopher hunt pay C$20 ($12.60) to sign up for the derby. The 10 participants who turn in the most gopher tails by the June 23 deadline will share the kitty. Some of the money will also go to fund wildlife preserves.
The campaign's critics say there are more ethical methods than shooting the animals.
"A sharing attitude might be the first thing," said Crosland, who suggests fencing, crop rotation and relocation.
She calls the gopher derby a barbaric bloodbath, word of which will leave a stain on the province's pastoral image.
"They might just kind of get an impression that Saskatchewan is a redneck province and they don't want to go there," said Crosland from her home in British Columbia.
Yahoo! Sounds like fun!
High quality scope $500
Squirrel singing soprano .....priceless
Thanks for the post. Sounds like there are many shooters who would go for this, replacing the squeamish eco-tourist types. Is this a bad thing for Saskatchewan? I think not.
Now that's cruelty to animals!
These peta types always have a pat phrase, this is one of them. However, if she has some suggestions she should come out with them. But I didn't see any in this article.
"They're like the Cong, varmitcong.
So what you got to do ...
is fall back on superior firepower and superior inteligence. <click>
And that's all she wrote."
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