‘They are a big menace:’ Ground squirrels leaving holes in NE Calgary community

A northeast Calgary community is battling ground squirrels in their neighbourhood park, with residents saying they have called the city but still haven’t gotten any assistance.

Nandini Dey lives in Monterey Park and says she is looking for answers from the City of Calgary as Richardson’s ground squirrels — also known as gophers — continue to dig holes near her home and in parks in her neighbourhood.

“The entire area has been dig up,” she says. “They are a big menace. It would be nice, you know, if this was controlled.”

It’s not just the park near her home that’s plagued with holes, Dey has been forced to cover some of them around her own property.

“My garden is quite ruined in the front yard,” she says.

Dey adds that the rodents loosen soil which causes some slabs on her driveway to crack when they are stepped on.

“These are the issues we are facing,” Dey says. “It doesn’t look nice. Things were good, they’re not looking nice anymore.”

In a statement to CityNews, the city says different methods are used to control the ground squirrel population with priority given to sites with “potential safety concerns.”

“The City of Calgary Parks will manage issues related to ground squirrels on city-owned land when holes pose a safety risk for people and their pets or threaten municipal land,” reads the city’s website.

The city does not control the population in natural environment parks, saying the gophers “fill an essential role in the prairie ecosystem and are considered a keystone species in terms of a food source for countless predators.”

The city adds that managing the ground squirrel population at this time of year is not as effective due to their reproductive cycle.