VALLEY GOPHERS DIG IN AS RESIDENTS FIGHT BACK.Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer In the epic battle between man and gopher raging in Ron Epstein's back yard and across the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , the gophers have the upper hand. ``The gophers are like a common cold,'' Epstein said, surveying his potholed pot·hole n. 1. A hole or pit, especially one in a road surface. Also called chuckhole. 2. A deep round hole worn in rock by loose stones whirling in strong rapids or waterfalls. 3. Western U.S. yard. ``They're supposed to run their course and leave. But this is one that won't go away.'' The gopher epidemic has hit particularly hard this year because El Nino's rains have caused the rodents' ranks to swell in tandem Adv. 1. in tandem - one behind the other; "ride tandem on a bicycle built for two"; "riding horses down the path in tandem" tandem with the new abundance of vegetation, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. state wildlife officials and pest control pest control n → control m de plagas pest control n → lutte f contre les nuisibles pest control pest n companies. ``It's been an exceptionally good year for gophers,'' said Scott Fries, owner of Hydrex Pest Control in Van Nuys, who estimated the number of gophers is up 20 percent to 25 percent from recent years. Patrick Moore
Sir Alfred Patrick Caldwell-Moore, CBE, HonFRS, FRAS (born 4 March, 1923) known as Patrick Moore , spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game, said that although gophers depend more on lawns and gardens than on natural forage, the extra plant growth this year has boosted all wildlife populations, from small rodents up to the coyotes and other predators that feed on them. ``When you have good precipitation, that produces good forage for wildlife, and the bottom end of wildlife survives on grasses and other perennial forage, and that leads right up the food chain to the larger mammals that take advantage of those smaller rodents and such,'' Moore said. At Epstein's home, the burrowing rodents have dug a labyrinth of tunnels across the lawn, and new mounds of dirt appear daily around freshly dug holes. The lawn is an ankle-twisting obstacle course obstacle course n. 1. A training course filled with obstacles, such as ditches and walls, that must be negotiated speedily by troops undergoing training or participants in an obstacle race. 2. , and the plump gophers have attracted hungry coyotes. The infestation infestation /in·fes·ta·tion/ (-fes-ta´shun) parasitic attack or subsistence on the skin and/or its appendages, as by insects, mites, or ticks; sometimes used to denote parasitic invasion of the organs and tissues, as by helminths. began in May and has continued since then, despite the conventional wisdom that gophers stay briefly, wreak horticultural havoc and then go on their way. The 30-year-old Epstein believes he has exhausted all the humane alternatives to evict the unwanted tenants. He tried trapping the animals, but that method failed when the gophers pushed the traps out of the way. He drove into his yard electronic stakes that emit noise and vibrations to annoy the gophers, but then realized the battery-run devices would run only for a few hours - not enough time to drive out the pesky rodents. He even planted garlic plants after hearing the scent would chase the animals away. One plant toppled after gopher holes eroded its roots. ``I planted another one, and they ate it,'' Epstein said. ``So now there's a lot of gophers running around with bad breath.'' Pest control experts say the surest way to eradicate gophers is poison gas poison gas, any of various gases sometimes used in warfare or riot control because of their poisonous or corrosive nature. These gases may be roughly grouped according to the portal of entry into the body and their physiological effects. . Poison pellets are the next-best thing, they say. ``There's really not a way to take them out live,'' said Manny Manny may refer to: In nobility:
Rod Wade, a 36-year-old Chatsworth resident, resorted to pellets to kill the gophers despite his reluctance to use poison in the yard where his 2-year-old daughter plays. ``The first thing I tried, which is the silliest thing to do, was pour water in the holes,'' he said. ``Gophers are smart enough that they'll back-dig higher tunnels that are high enough that they don't fill up with water.'' After that washout washout to disperse or empty by flooding with water or other solvent. medullary solute washout a syndrome in which the relative hyperosmolarity of the renal medulla is reduced due to an excessive loss of sodium and chloride from , Wade tried poison gas sticks, which also failed. But poison pellets seemed to do the trick, at least for a few months at a time. He has tried them three times this year, most recently around June, and the gophers haven't been back since, he said. But Epstein, with an infant and a 2-year-old daughter of his own, won't consider poison. ``Having my daughter run around out there, it's just not worth the risk of having her come into contact with it,'' he said. ``That's much more of a risk to me than the gophers present.'' So now he's down to just waiting and hoping. ``You just have to hope that they finish their digging and get out of your yard,'' he said. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Ron Epstein points out gopher holes in his Woodland Hills yard. Hans Gutknecht/Daily News |
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