They Had Their Chance

I like the vacuumn idea...keeps them alive...then ship them to Toronto and Ottawa and turn them loose.

I can think of a few buildings in Ottawa that need more gophers.

See, that's what happens when governments fail to control the climate. If we'd only let them do that, we wouldnt have so many coyotes, or gophers for that matter.

hmmm. Maybe if they got rid of the people in Saskatchewan, there'd be no people complaining about too many gophers or coyotes and their little doggies wouldn't get et, by Mr.& Mrs. Wile E. Coyote.

"Yeah, well people got to complainin' a lot 'bout coyotes an' gophers an' sech, so we got rid of the people. Whole lot quieter now."

From the second article: "It warns petitioners will not visit the province until the hunting competition is called off."

All I can say is, thank you, don't come again.

My understanding is, 90% of a coyote's diet is mice. Coyotes are not the gophers' greatest threat. Badgers, hawks, owls, weasels, bull snakes, rattlesnakes, golden eagles, all play as big a role in controlling gophers as coyotes.

Before whitey broke the land for agriculture, coyotes were scavenging carcases of buffalo, deer, antelope, that had been killed by real hunters.

The one thing I don't approve of is gopher poison. It ends up killing too many natural predators, and creates a cycle of dependency on poison, as the only control left.

We shoot both gophers and coyotes around here - it solves both problems. (also we trap moles and magpies and shoot badgers)

If you travel in SE Alberta, you'll see road signs, warning you not to run over rattlesnakes. The ranchers, around here, have become very protective of snakes. It's quite a change in attitude, from when I first came to this area. Killing snakes used to be sport, for farm kids.

Since my first gopher hunt, in 1970, I've seen a steady decline in their population. The 70's were the pinnacle of man's attempt to control pests, with chemicals. It was a dismal failure. The decline of gopher population was inversely proportional to the increase in predatory bird population. My job as a surveyor, in the oil patch, gave me a front row seat to this event, as it unfolded.

Since snakes don't survive in farmland, it's pretty well up to the hawks, to control the gophers.

I'm of mixed feelings.
I recall a Master's thesis written by an associate in his climb to higher rank.

Kenya---and the balance of nature---and the COLD WAR
Colonial Kenya had two primary tribes---the Masai and the Kikuyu.
The Masai were tall, highly successful warriors with a low birth-rate----who preyed on/raided the agrarian Kukuyu (high birth rate) for cattle and women.
The British in the interest of forced the Masai to cease and decist raiding the Kikuyu.
With the reduction of "predetation" the Kikuyu population exploded with an explosion of cattle numbers----agravated by the herds the masai now had to keep.
The overpopulation of cattle made famine easy with the slightest of droughts.
The result was dead and dying cattle and wild life. An abundance which enabled more predators to multiply.....the result was a plague of lions and hyenas.
But it did not stop there. The Kikuyu were a resource the Soviets coopted into the Mau Mau revolt.
Rwanda was subject to the same process....almost identical.....with similar results.
Simply put the road to hell was paved with good intentions. Ending inter-tribal warefare with law and order....wreaked the environment and created a civil war.
This is the LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES.

Judging by where this myopic whining is coming from, I say every lawn in suburban Canada should have at least 1 gopher colony.

I remember seeing somewhere that gophers are considered exotic pets in some Asian countries. If they do become a severe problem again perhaps we just need to open the market to China?

Excerpt re-coyote attack in Nova Scotia last fall

"The coyote attack Tuesday that killed Taylor Mitchell is rare on many levels, say wildlife scientists, including one who studied the animals in Nova Scotia for four years."
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(note one article mentioned the RCMP had to shot one coyote to get them to leave her body, in other words they were protecting it as prey)
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excerpt- from article on very recent coyote attack in New Brunswick

"Simon wasn't sure why the dog wanted back in, then she heard a snarl. She told CBC New Brunswick that she first thought it was a big dog, but then it lunged at her and all she could see were teeth.

Simon tossed Sampson to the side to protect him.

"It started trying to bite at me and bite at me and I just covered my head with both my hands like that and swinging off punches when I could," she said in an interview with CBC.

The attack lasted about 10 minutes, she told the CBC.

When the coyote lunged for her neck and jaw, she punched it square in the mouth, which sent the coyote scurrying away, she said in the interview.

She has an injured hand and the coyote had pulled out clumps of her hair.

Simon told the Times & Transcript newspaper that she's had trouble sleeping since the attack.

"I still haven't slept, I am too scared," she said. "I slept maybe 20 minutes but I dreamt of a coyote the whole time."

excerpt from a story out of Sarnia, Ontario last August.

SARNIA -- An adult newspaper carrier says he was afraid of being
attacked early yesterday morning when he was surrounded by three coyotes
in southeast Sarnia.

"I was pretty intimidated," said Jason Wagner. "I didn't know what was
going to happen."

Wagner, 25, said he had left his car running on Prestwick Cres. in the
Sherwood Village subdivision and walked up a driveway to delivery a paper.

"It was dark and there were no streetlights. As I was returning to the
car I saw a coyote in front of me about 30 feet away," he said. "It was
just standing there between me and my car."

He then became aware of two more coyotes behind him.

"I just charged the one in front of me."

Wagner said the coyote was startled and quickly moved out of the way,
leaving him enough time to jump into his vehicle.
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A coyote population that is hunted for it's fur and to protect domestic animals has the most aggressive members removed from it's population. Now that practice is suppressed by governments, they've no reason to fear humans and are starting to move up the food chain.

Rural Sask. residents tell of coyotes more bold and aggressive than they've ever seen or heard of. We're the first generation of Canadians in history being systematically disarmed.

Unarmed, humans are far from the top of the food chain.

Carla Coyote, spokesperson for Wild Predators of Canada(standing in for Barry Bear who was sleeping), stated at a recent press conference "If Mother Nature did not want us to eat humans she would not have made them out of meat."

In the South Dakota badlands, the blackfooted ferret was re-introduced some years ago. Its main food source is the prairie dog which was and still is a pest of epic proportions in western SD. Prairie dogs can no longer be controlled by poisons etc. so their habitat has expanded greatly, thereby decimating pastureland and straining rancher's ability to make a living. Unintended consequences to be sure, but consequences nonetheless.