Posted on 04/08/2002 9:01:13 PM PDT by 2Trievers
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.
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"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.
Hahaha
Of course the enviroNazis aren't satisfied with that:
killing derby basically and there's other ways of dealing with wildlife," said Sinikka Crosland
You'll change your puny mind, Sinikka (Finnish for clueless animal-worshipper),
when you break an ankle stepping in a gopher hole.
sharing attitude might be the first thing," said Crosland, who suggests fencing, crop rotation and relocation
Of course! Why didn't these dumb hick farmers get your brilliant idea first? Well, of course, they're unwashed rednecks who "blast away with firearms" at everything, right? And you're a superior version of person who has to tell these subhumans how to behave correctly and make the proper sacrifices to Almighty Mother Nature, of course.
The farmers and ranchers were just bumbling along with this problem until you entered the fray with your brilliant understanding of the whole situation. They will be thrilled to hear that all they have to do is give up a large percentage of their crops to the gophers each season and all will be hunky-dory.
They're already doing that!
That's why they need to control the gopher population, Ms. Nature Worshipper!
The horror...the horror...
"A sharing attitude might be the first thing," said Crosland, who suggests fencing, crop rotation and relocation.
Okay, I've got an idea. Let's round up all the gophers and relocate them to her residence. She can share her space with them.
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But not near as much fun!
License To Kill Gophers
But seriously:
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.
Ok, so rather than give these little furry rats a quick, painless death, they humanslast activists would rather see them contract diseases, dying a slow painful death...and the ones that survive would presumably die a slow painful death next spring during the snowmelt...what a bunch of morons.
Speaking of smelling varmint poontang:
"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.
If she really wants a stain on the pastoral image, don't hold the derby and see what kinds of creeping crud infect the gophers and any other living thing that comes in contact with them when the population gets too big this summer...
Yikes!
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