{"id":572274,"date":"2026-03-31T05:45:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/572274\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:45:14","slug":"ottawa-allows-temporary-use-of-gopher-poison-in-alberta-saskatchewan-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/572274\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa allows temporary use of gopher poison in Alberta, Saskatchewan \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2013 Ottawa is temporarily allowing the return of the rodent poison strychnine in Alberta and Saskatchewan as those provinces grapple with gopher infestations.<\/p>\n

A statement from the federal ministers of health and agriculture says allowing its use will help farmers address damage caused by Richardson\u2019s ground squirrels.<\/p>\n

The federal government banned strychnine in 2024 as it posed risks to other wildlife that consume poisoned carcasses.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA Richardson’s ground squirrel pokes up from its burrow on Monday, July 14, 2025, in a vacant lot in Minot, N.D. (AP Photo\/Jack Dura)<\/p>\n

The Prairie provinces have recently pushed Health Canada to reconsider, arguing gophers are threatening crops and causing millions of dollars\u2019 worth of damage.<\/p>\n

Health Canada initially rejected the proposal, but reversed course Monday after the provinces submitted a revised emergency-use request that included measures to lower environmental risks.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

The ministers say the federal authorization will be in place until November 2027.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2013 Ottawa is temporarily allowing the return of the rodent poison strychnine in Alberta and Saskatchewan as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-572274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}