By Shaun Penner

Vole outbreak

Grande Prairie area yards facing increased vole population

May 5, 2020 | 1:18 PM

The miniature pests known as voles are finding their way to Grande Prairie lawns in bigger numbers this spring compared to recent years, according to the City’s Parks Department.

The small rodents, also known as meadow mice, are known to move into urban neighbourhoods in the spring as the snow melts in rural areas, leaving their nests and food sources exposed to predators and possible flooding. As inhabitants of grassy areas, urban yards become a prime nesting spot to store food and bear their spring litters. This is met with much disdain from property owners whose lawns then get chewed up, as the rodents tunnel their way to their new home.

An example of the damage voles can do to lawns as they tunnel to make their nests (Photo: dreamstime.com)

Parks Supervisor with the City, Amy Needham, says this year’s population is greater than previous years because of the wet fall which left much of the crop in farmer’s fields for the winter.

“With that amount of food laying around, pretty much they’ve had seven months to make lots of babies and breed, and they’re probably pretty fat and happy living in the swaths. So, we were kind of expecting a population explosion this spring.”

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Needham says the main motivators for voles, like many other creatures, are food and security. With that, eliminating food sources such as grass clippings, bird seed, piles of leaves or other shrubbery, fallen fruit and dead flowers from your lawn and garden can help prevent voles from attempting to make your yard home.

In terms of eradication, Needham recommends trapping instead of poisoning, as poisoning could have unintended consequences.

“I never recommend poisons, just because of off-target damage. If you poison a vole and it wanders away and gets eaten by someone’s dog, or even a fox or a hawk or something like that, then you can have poison transfer and poison something you didn’t mean to.”

Traps should also be set along the edges of your property, like along the fence line, as these provide an added vail of security for voles as they travel.

Needham is also reassuring property owners that the tunneling damage created by burrowing voles isn’t all that permanent and is not as daunting as it may appear.

“It’s pretty shocking to look at, but the grass itself should be fine. The voles don’t really kill the grass,” said Needham. “They’re not going to wholesale kill your lawn, no matter how bad the vole damage looks like it is.”

She adds that though an outbreak of the pests may be happening this year, the population cycle for voles does not last long and things like predators will help lower those numbers in the long run.

“There are lots of things that eat voles, so it might be shocking right now, the number of voles that we’re seeing, but nature is quick to compensate and usually can account for outbreaks pretty quickly.”