AR-News: Derby cancelled, Saskatchewan gophers safe this year

[Barry Kent MacKay]

CBC.ca:  Derby cancelled, Saskatchewan gophers safe this year 

Last Updated Mon, 05 Apr 2004 11:35:33 

SASKATOON - The Saskatoon Wildlife Federation has cancelled its
controversial gopher-hunting derby this year, saying weather conditions have
reduced the population naturally. 

For the past two years, the federation has offered prizes for people who
killed gophers and sent in their frozen tails, in an attempt to reduce farm
crop amage blamed on a ballooning population of the rodents. 
In the derby's first year, hunters sent in more than 60,000 gopher tails in
an effort to win one of 10 prizes of cash, guns and ammunition. The number
of tails submitted dropped to 40,400 in 2003. 
Animal rights groups from around the world condemned the contest. But the
federation said the protests had nothing to do with its decision to cancel
the event for 2004. 
"I don't think the conditions this year merit it," said Len Jabush, who
organized the derby for the wildlife federation. 
He said more snow fell this winter, resulting in spring runoffs that flooded
underground dens and drowned many gophers. At the same time, parts of the
province enjoyed more rain throughout 2003, giving the rodents' predators
more places to hide thanks to heavier vegetation. 

Jabush said the derby could be back next year, depending on weather
conditions. 
As well as eating crops each spring, the gophers tunnel under farm fields,
creating pits that can cause livestock to break their legs. 
Their numbers have grown across the Prairies since 1993, when the federal
government restricted the use of strychnine. Farmers had long used the
poison to protect their fields against the animals. 

Written by CBC News Online staff 


_________________________

  Barry Kent MacKay
  Canadian Office
  ANIMAL PROTECTION INSTITUTE 
  www.api4animals.org