Jeff Zimmer, a Fish and Wildlife officer working out of Pincher Creek, says that even though the guidelines exist, he is not aware of any legislation to legally enforce the manner of application, nor the disposal of dead pests.
He says that his personal research into the matter indicates that the dosage of strychnine in commercial gopher poisons is low, and unlikely to kill larger animals. He adds that in his personal opinion, there likely is secondary poisoning occurring in the area, even if ranchers are following the guidelines to the letter.
“No matter how diligent you are at picking up the dead ones,” says Zimmer, “you’ll likely miss some.”
Dr. Garbutt says that he believes the poison in this case is not being administered safely. He says that he found poison bait set out above the ground along a nearby road allowance, and not placed down into any gopher holes.
“There’s something wrong when you can go and toss large quantities of lethal material around the countryside,” says Dr. Garbutt. “If our dog or cats happened to pick up a dead or dying gopher, we’d lose them.”
He says that he was surprised to learn that it is legal to distribute poison without any safety valve.
“Apparently it’s legal to use lethal substances on public lands with no intent to prevent secondary poisoning,” he says. “We could be killing anything that eats meat.”
Zimmer says that the possibility exists that larger animals, such as coyotes, are being affected by poison as well. In his experience, however, the majority of secondary poisonings occur in raptors –– predatory birds –– that feed on the gopher populations through the foothills.
There are quite a few eagles that nest in the Porcupine Hills, says Dr. Garbutt, and he is afraid that many more could be dying in the area that no one knows about.
Anyone who finds dead wildlife, eagle or otherwise, can contact their local Fish and Wildlife office. Zimmer says that in cases such as a single dead coyote, there will likely be no investigation, but that Fish and Wildlife would take great interest if a lot of animals were found to be dying in any given area.
Alberta Agriculture lists other options ranchers can take to deal with gophers that carry less risk to other wildlife, including different types of poison that dissipate after death, or the use of gopher traps.