[CA] Gopher hunt draws fervour and furor (Western Producer)

[Sinikka Crosland]

Gopher hunt draws fervour and furor
this document web posted: Thursday May 8, 2003 20030508p4 
By Sean Pratt
Saskatoon newsroom

Western Producer 

One thing both critics and promoters of a controversial gopher derby agree on is that it won't have much of an impact on the prairie population of Richardson ground squirrels. 

The organizer of the second annual Ken Turcot Memorial Gopher Derby said the event "won't even touch" the gopher problem plaguing rural landowners. 

"If you've got one gopher you don't have a problem. But visualize 20 on your kitchen table. Now you've got a problem," said Len Jabush, business manager of the Saskatoon Wildlife Federation, the nonprofit group sponsoring the derby. 

Jabush can't understand the fervour surrounding the hunting of gophers, something that's been going on for decades. 

"You talk to any person that's over 50 that shoots, ask them where they learned to shoot - shooting gophers out in the pasture at home." 

He said the 60,000 critters that were killed in last year's contest was a "drop in the bucket" in terms of the total prairie gopher population. 

Animal rights activists agree the derby isn't going to accomplish much in terms of animal control. A group called the Fund for Animals, which says it represents 200,000 members, calls the event "thoughtless extermination" and wants it stopped. 

"Rodent populations are cyclical and wildlife killing contests have little or no impact on overall numbers," said the group's Rocky Mountain co-ordinator Andrea Lococo. 

"What may once have been considered an acceptable form of recreation is today no longer acceptable in the eyes of wildlife professionals and the vast majority of citizenry, including most sport hunters." 

But at least one group of sport hunters disagrees with that assessment. An outfitter from Rosetown, Sask., has booked a delegation of eight Americans who plan to spend three days blasting away at heads popping out of holes. 

"They're varmint hunters. They've been all over the U.S. hunting varmints," said Don Anderson. 

While it's a first for him, Anderson said there's no difference outfitting a gopher hunter versus a deer hunter. 

"It doesn't matter if you're doing game birds or big game or whatever, you find your quarry and then go after it." 

And there's plenty of quarry to go after. Area farmers have fields chockablock full of furry critters they'd love to get rid of and the hunters have no restrictions on how many gophers they can bag. 

It's a nice fit, said Anderson, who points out that the group will likely spend a total of $15,000, including air fare, on the hunting trip. He figures gopher hunting could become a tourism draw for the province. 

Saskatchewan Environment officials said that's not something they want to promote. They are also worried the contest could threaten endangered species like the black-tailed prairie dog. 

But they won't be shutting down the contest as requested by the Fund for Animals, said Joe Warbeck, business manager of the department's fish and wildlife branch. 

"We can't legally stop the hunting of gophers. It's not a protected species, it's not an endangered species. We can't prevent anybody from hunting or shooting it." 

Fifty people have registered for the derby, which runs May 1-Aug. 31. Last year's inaugural event had 211 entrants but only 63 submitted their kill count, which totalled 60,107 dead gophers. 

This year's prizes of guns and ammunition will be awarded based on a random draw. Each person who submits one tail will be eligible to win a prize. An extra entry form is entered for each additional 50 tails counted. 






---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.476 / Virus Database: 273 - Release Date: 4/24/03
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.envirolink.org/mailman/private/ar-news/attachments/20030509/cccda96b/attachment.html