Alberta (Rural Roots Canada) – The Alberta Agricultural Service Board says it’s disappointed by the federal government’s decision to reject emergency use of strychnine to help control the Richardson’s ground squirrel population in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Rob Siewert, chair of the Agricultural Service Board Provincial Committee, says the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) isn’t listening to producers and the economic realities they’re facing.
“Producers have been calling for this change due to the losses and the damage done,” says Siewert. “The PMRA is not listening to the producers and the economic concerns they bring.”
Siewert says that, even more concerning, it’s not listening to the federal minister of agriculture.
“Health MacDonald has publicly stated he supports the emergency use registration,” he notes.
And the issue also goes far beyond crop damage, he explains
“The PMRA is not listening to the animal safety concerns that are brought forward because it’s not just about gophers. It’s about the holes and the risk to other animals that creates,” says Siewert. “There have been natural gas pipelines that have been dug up with holes in them, and those holes are caused by gophers eating away at those pipes and plastic irrigation pipes, too.”
Siewert points out that strychnine has been used since 1928 throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan, calling it a valuable tool provided it’s used according to label directions. He says both provinces have tried to explain to Ottawa the risks of removing strychnine and the need for it to return.
RELATED: Pest Management Regulatory Agency Denise Request for Strychnine Use on Ground Squirrels
At the recent provincial conference in Edmonton, the Agricultural Service Board passed a resolution to keep the issue front and centre.
“Three-quarters of the province has these problems,” he says. “There are areas where hundreds of acres are eaten off it just in one swath, which is massive. It all adds up to thousands and thousands of acres that have been damaged by these gophers.”
Siewert says it’s estimated that there were more than $800-million in losses in Alberta last year alone because of Richardson’s ground squirrels. He believes it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a food safety and security issue.
He wants to see federal agencies like the PMRA and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency be held more accountable to agriculture.
“They’re accountable to Health Canada,” he says. “We need that changed. These are agricultural decisions that need agricultural oversight.”
