Outdoor Pursuits

A recent decision to allow the use of strychnine in parts of Western Canada has reignited a long-running and often heated debate between farmers and animal-rights groups. And in provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan, the issue for many landowners is costly.

At the center of the controversy are Richardson’s ground squirrels, better known as gophers. Their populations are currently surging across the Prairies. A combination of dry conditions and favourable breeding cycles has led to a population explosion. Fields that once showed scattered burrows are now pockmarked with them. For farmers and ranchers, this translates into real damage to crops, reduced forage for livestock, and hazards for machinery and animals alike.

Faced with pressure from the agriculture industry, Alberta and Saskatchewan have pushed for federal action. The result was an Emergency Use Permit issued by Health Canada allowing the use of strychnine to kill ground squirrels until late 2027. Apparently, existing control measures are insufficient to deal with the scale of the problem. The move was even described by Health Canada as part of a “Team Canada effort”, a phrase that critics have called cynical, suggesting it mocks legitimate concerns. It also sounds like the kind of messaging one might expect from Mark Carney, even when the issue at hand is less about unity and more about who ends up paying the price, something Albertans know all too well.

From an agricultural perspective, farmers are dealing with a pest whose population is rapidly increasing. Ground squirrels reproduce quickly, and in good conditions their numbers can increase dramatically in just a short time. Traditional control methods like shooting, trapping, or fumigation can help, but they are often labour-intensive and difficult to apply across large fields. Because of this, strychnine is viewed as a practical tool that’s relatively inexpensive, effective, and capable of addressing infestations at a large scale.

But this is where animal-rights groups disagree. Groups like Animal Justice Canada (basically a bunch of lawyers invested in protecting animals) have been vocal in opposing the reintroduction of strychnine, as it is widely regarded as causing significant suffering. Animals that ingest it can experience severe convulsions and distress before death. For these groups, this alone raises serious ethical questions about its use in modern wildlife management.

There is also concerns about unintended consequences. Strychnine is not selective. Other animals—predators, scavengers, and even pets—can be exposed either directly or through secondary poisoning. Birds of prey too are at risk. These species play an important role in controlling rodent populations naturally, and their loss can have ripple effects throughout the ecosystem. Critics argue that using a broad-spectrum poison potentially worsens the problem over time.

So, how do we balance the needs of farmers and ranchers with the wants of the animal-rights groups? Farmers and ranchers need solutions and feeling sorry for gophers doesn’t cut it.

“Supporting native predators and their habitats can help promote natural biological control mechanisms inherent to healthy ecosystems,” said Hannah Barron, Conservation Director at Wolf Awareness. The press release then added, “Measures to naturally manage ground squirrel population levels include maintaining vegetation along field edges, installing nesting platforms for raptors, protecting badgers from vehicle collisions and ending the cruel killing of coyotes through bounties, killing contests, and poisoning by Compound 1080.” Okay, sounds to me like they’re reaching a little with the killing contests but okay, if you say so.

The point is no single method has proven to be a complete replacement for strychnine, particularly when dealing with large-scale outbreaks.

For the general public, methods used to control some wildlife populations raise questions about ethics, think wolf populations and the government’s use of poison to control them in the name of saving caribou. Many felt this was unnecessary but offered no real solutions other than to shut down industry, which also wouldn’t sit well with the public when paycheques start to disappear. Trappers were some of the loudest voices against the use of poison for wolf control and now with the support of government, trappers control wolves at scale. But wolves and gophers are not equal in the control spectrum.

Ultimately, the situation illustrates the complexity of pest management. Exploding ground squirrel populations present a genuine challenge and one that demands action. At the same time, the tools used to address that challenge carry consequences and so the debate continues, with no simple resolution in sight. Farmers look for effective ways to protect their land and income, while animal-rights groups call for more humane approaches, caring only for the wildlife causing the problem. Meanwhile, governments attempt to navigate between both sides, usually satisfying neither completely.

In the meantime, one cannot help but imagine fields dotted “not” with poison bait stations, but with pickup trucks and thermoses, as landowners put out the call for hunters to lend a hand.

For the previous Outdoor Pursuits article, click here.