Ground squirrels, strychnine and Alberta's grasslands

Canada banned strychnine for Richardson's ground squirrels over the risk to burrowing owls and other wildlife; Alberta pushed back, and an emergency use is now allowed to 2027. Which control keeps crops and predators both whole?

Richardson's ground squirrels, called gophers on the Prairies, live across Alberta's prairie and parkland.^1,2 They eat and trample crops, and their burrows break equipment and injure livestock; the Alberta government puts the annual risk to hay and native pasture above $800 million.^1,2 They are also a main food of hawks, owls, badgers, foxes and coyotes.¹ Strychnine was long the farmers' poison of choice, used for this only in Alberta and Saskatchewan.² In 2020 Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency decided to phase it out for ground squirrels, citing risks to animals that eat poisoned carcasses, including burrowing owls and swift foxes; the phase-out took effect in 2023, and all uses of strychnine were cancelled in 2024.² Alberta's premier and two ministers asked Ottawa in June 2025 to reverse the decision.² The federal regulator then approved an emergency use of 2% liquid strychnine from 30 March 2026 to 1 November 2027, limited to trained, eligible farmers.^1,3 Rocky View County reported that manufacture and distribution were delayed and supply would be short.³

Who needs an answer

Health Canada's pest regulator, deciding whether the emergency use should end in 2027 or continue.
Alberta's agriculture ministry and the counties that hand out the product to eligible farmers.
Farmers and ranchers choosing between poison, trapping, shooting, fumigants and encouraging predators.
Those responsible for burrowing owls and swift foxes, the species at risk the regulator named.

The domains it chains

Ground squirrel numbers, breeding and hibernation; crop and pasture losses; hawks, owls, badgers and foxes that eat the squirrels and can be poisoned by them; tall grass and field edges that shelter predators; pesticide law, training and supply.

What a twin should let people try

Control mixes: how do squirrel numbers and crop losses respond to poison alone, predators alone, or both used at different times of year?
Secondary poisoning: given how far owls and hawks hunt, how many are exposed under different rules on carcass collection and treatment areas?
Predators as control: how many raptor nesting platforms would it take to hold squirrel numbers down on a given farm?

Where to start

The Alberta government page sets out the squirrel's life cycle: one litter of 6 to 8 a year and hibernation of more than 210 days.¹ It also gives an integrated control plan with spring surveys, record keeping, raptor platforms and kestrel boxes; a hawk pair takes 300 to 500 squirrels a season.¹ Species sightings across the province are on iNaturalist.