SPOKANE, Wash., April 14 (UPI) -- Officials at an arboretum in Spokane, Wash., say they're blowing up ground squirrel holes in a bid to control the quickly reproducing rodents.
The squirrels' population has exploded because of a lack of natural predators such as hawks and coyotes at the Finch Arboretum in Spokane. So park officials are injecting the squirrels' holes with the Rodenator Pro -- a propane-and-oxygen combination that sparks an explosion, collapsing the burrows and destroying the rodents, The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review reported Tuesday.
"They are all over the place," said Steve Nittolo, Spokane's horticulture supervisor, noting the squirrels are burrowing deeply into the cultivated spaces where newer trees are growing, damaging the young trees' roots.
Nittolo told the Spokesman-Review he received a complaint from a neighbor concerned about the spread of disease from the arboretum's squirrel infestation, adding that an elderly couple fell to the ground after stepping into a squirrel hole.
