The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-04-24
IMMUNE
TO GOPHER POISON
BY o. Il. STEPHL
Rodent Control Agent for Montana

A BOUT this time of the year,
"a when the work of discriminating
the gopher is in full swing, the
most commonly asked question at the
rodent control agents office is will
gophen poison kill my chickens?"
The answer is that chickens are in
cluded among the birds which are
highly immune to strychnine poison
ing. Others in the gallinaceous
group-birds with crops-Which have
a high degree of immunity against
this form of poison are quail, part
ridges, prairie chickens and sage
hens. Other birds such as pheasants,
turkeys, ducks and geese, although
belonging to the same group, are
more susceptible to the poison, and of
course care should be taken to see
that poisoned grain is not accessible
to such birds.
Just why one bird is not affected
by this poison, while another of SINH
lar constitution is subject to injury
from this cause is an open question.
Little is know regarding the consti-
tutional characteristics of the i'm
mune birds that results in this i'm
munity. The fact is well established
but the reason is at present unknown.
Evidently the birds are able to dis
pose of the poison without its enter
ing the blood stream. 1t is elimin-
ated with sufficient rapidity to pre-
vent the causing of conVulsive
spasms.
A number of experiments have
been carried on, feeding strychnine
coated grain to captive game birds.
The chief game warden in Sas-
katchewan, Canada, carried on an ex-
pertinent with prairie chickens, and
fed a prairie chicken a quantity of
grain sufficient to kill 100 ground
squirrels, without i'll effects to the
bird.
In the State of Washington strych-
nine poisoned grain was fed to four
introduced Chinese ~pheasants to de-
termine if it would result harmfully
to the birds. The p%heasants were
young birds-five to six months old.
They ate as many as $50 grains a
day without apparent harmful effects.
The bait used was Columbian ground
squirrel poison, which is as strong as
any recommended by the United
States biological survey.
At Montana State college, in IAN
uary 1928, the illogical surveys rep
resentative conducted an experiment
on feeding poisoned grain to pin tail
grouse. Four of the birds were re- I
ceived from Powder River county.
However, in transferring them to a t
pen, n escaped into the room and /
flew through a glass door window, t
breaking the glass and continuing it's /
flight into the country until out of G
sight, apparently unhurt by the ex- |
perience. OF the three grouse re-
naming, one was used as a check /
bird, and the other two were fed I
poisoned grain. The first day all ]
three were fed alike, with clean
wheat, oats and corn. The wheat and +
corn were eaten first, indicating that t
oats were not relished to the same '
extent as were the other grains. +
The second day the birds were not l
fed until four pm. The check bird I
was given clean oats; No. 2 bird :
was given $50 grains of ground SPUR l
rel poison, and No. 8 was given 300 {
of prairie dog poison. These =.
amounts are equal to a teaspoonful |
respectively. No. 8 bird ate the $50 !
poisoned oats readily and at once, '
and was given more until $50 grains {
were consumed, all inside of one-half (
hour. From all external appearance. !