The Saskatchewan SPCA is against an emergency registration for liquid strychnine to control a growing gopher population in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Health Canada's Pesticides Regulatory Directorate, formerly known as the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, approved its use in late-March with multiple conditions attached to ensure safe use on the population of Richardson's ground squirrels.
"We definitely understand that farmers do need to control these populations, and we sympathize with them, but we also need to be aware of the risks that putting poison in the environment can have, especially as secondary poisoning is a big concern." said Mikayla Basset, Education Coordinator with the SPCA.
"Secondary poisoning is when an animal eats a baited ground squirrel. A ground squirrel that has been poisoned dies and then gets eaten by a predator, and that predator then gets poisoned and dies itself. So the spread through the food web is very concerning for us and can cause very damaging ecological risks."
Strychnine can cause severe muscle spasms, seizures, and respiratory failure within a short period of time, leading to significant suffering, says the SPCA in a news release.
They cite a 2020 re-valuation from the former PMRA that concluded "the environmental risks of strychnine use for Richardson’s ground squirrel control were unacceptable, particularly due to the threat posed to non-target wildlife, including species at risk. Research has shown that poisoned carcasses can remain accessible on the surface and that mitigation measures do not reliably prevent exposure to other animals."
The SPCA also say gophers play a key role in the prairie ecosystem, primarily being a key food source for a variety of natural predators, along with "contributing to soil aeration, water infiltration," and nutrient cycling.
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