‘There’s got to be tens of thousands’: ground squirrels overrun North Dakota city | North Dakota
Richardson’s ground squirrel is less than a weight, about one foot length and is specific to the northern plains.
The small creature is also a wild tunnel, and Minot, which has been lingering everywhere from empty parties to the middle of the city and has grown more in the last twenty years, is fed by the people of North Dakota.
Now, the fourth largest city of North Dakota is back, but even the pest control man, who leads the accusation, accepts that it would be difficult to convert the tide into a rodent.
A war uphill
Joshua Herman said that fighting squirrels like a man who stands against a big storm ”.
Herman said, “If I’m trapped, but if it’s not my neighbor, then we can’t reach anywhere with him, long -term.”
Kevin Braaten, responsible for Minot Street department, said that the squirrels are a problem in Minot, which is a city of about 50,000 people for at least 20 years, but the problem has worsening significantly in the last few years.
It is unclear that avoid avoiding the Minot, but probably approaching the population of the city, even exceeding.
“God, there must be tens of thousands of people in the region, Herman Herman said.
The authorities in the city, which is a green spot along the Souris River with agricultural land and grass, know that they cannot get rid of squirrels, but they hope to reduce the number of rodents.
Orum I don’t see the population will be zero, Bra Braaten said. “I mean, it’s almost impossible with the numbers we have.”
In other words, Minot will not be able to get rid of the squirrels because animals have been living on the countryside for centuries. Outside the city, like jackals, porsuks, owls and even snakes like to eat in squirrels. However, in the settlement neighborhoods and even in the city center where a few of the predators live, rodents can walk quite freely.
Greg Gullickson, a social assistance biologist with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, adds that squirrels now have less pasture space for them and as the midwells they find in the city.
No land is safe
Women squirrel typically give birth to garbage of about six infants per year, so it is easy to see how their numbers can rise rapidly.
Herman said that he first killed 3,500 to 5,000 a year by putting Snares and Carbon Monoxide in holes and using an air rifle.
Herman said, “I made calls in the city center, highways, highways, airports – I really fell into the trap for the black squirrels here in Minot all over the city,” Herman said while checking the traps along an apartment building and pulled dirt rowing on the holes.
Herman says they damage car roads, sidewalks and grass; Create dangers of opening with holes and can contain flea disease.
Throughout an apartment, the squirrels were excavated against a concrete plate and the foundation. In an empty area nearby, rodents entered the holes and came out.
Pashone grandson’s ground level digs the holes near the floor squirrels near the apartment and eats their plants. Even a squirrel spent around the baby door on the door and even in the bedroom.
“He was a little frightening. You don’t know which disease they carry.
In the north of the town, the Minot Air Force Base, which is home to bombardment aircraft and intercontinental ballistic missiles, fought for years with black squirrels. At the beginning of this month, the base said that it trapped more than 800 “Dak -rats olan, a basic name for rodents.
Basic officials refused to comment on squirrels.
Jared Edwards, the Facility Director of Minot Public Schools with three schools, said that the settlements of the bases and tracks were invaded by the squirrels. He said, “The base has been there for the last 75 years since the base was there,” he said.
Ed I won’t exaggerate: they live there millions, ”Edwards said.
In the town, three school property has a large place of squirrel populations, he said. Last year, the school system began to use a trap and used poison for years.
“This is one thing you need to keep up with. Nature, Mother, Ed Edwards said that they have probably been in the region since the arrival of their landlords.
A cute distress
Nevertheless, not everyone sees the squirrels a pest. Some find creatures cute and blurred.
Herman said that people sabotaged, stole, or throwing their traps. When they shoot in the squirrels with an air rifle, they scold them for hurting the wild life, they confront him from time to time.
Herman said, “They take this cute association and you know, cute, but when they are allowed to multiply, they are a pest and pest and dangerous,” he said.
