page_title: Mole (animal)
section_title: Pest status - extermination and humane options
hierarchical_section_title: Mole (animal) / Interaction with humans / Pest status - extermination and humane options
caption_attribution_description: English: Molehill in East Bohemia (Krtiny)
context_page_description: Moles are small mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have cylindrical bodies, velvety fur, very small, inconspicuous ears and eyes, reduced hindlimbs, and short, powerful forelimbs with large paws adapted for digging.
  The term mole is especially and most properly used for "true moles" of the family Talpidae in the order Eulipotyphla, which are found in most parts of North America, Europe and Asia, although it may also refer to unrelated mammals of Australia and southern Africa that have convergently evolved the "mole" body plan. The term is not applied to all talpids; e.g., desmans and shrew moles differ from the common definition of "mole".
  Moles are known pests to human activities such as agriculture, lawncare, and gardening. However, they do not eat plant roots; they only cause damage indirectly, as they eat earthworms and other small invertebrates in the soil. However, while moles may be viewed as pests, they do provide many positive contributions to the soil, gardens, and the ecosystem, including soil aeration, feeding on slugs and other small creatures that do eat plant roots, and providing prey for other wildlife.
context_section_description: Moles are considered agricultural pests in some countries, while in others, such as Germany, they are a protected species, but may be killed with a permit. Problems cited as caused by moles include contamination of silage with soil particles, making it unpalatable to livestock, the covering of pasture with fresh soil reducing its size and yield, damage to agricultural machinery by the exposure of stones, damage to young plants through disturbance of the soil, weed invasion of pasture through exposure of freshly tilled soil, and damage to drainage systems and watercourses. Other species such as weasels and voles may use mole tunnels to gain access to enclosed areas or plant roots.
  Moles burrow and raise molehills, killing parts of lawns. They can undermine plant roots, indirectly causing damage or death. Moles do not eat plant roots.
  Moles are controlled with traps such as mole-catchers, smoke bombs, and poisons such as calcium carbide, which produces acetylene gas to drive moles away. Strychnine was also used for this purpose in the past. The most common method now is Phostoxin or Talunex tablets. They contain aluminium phosphide and are inserted in the mole tunnels, where they turn into phosphine gas (not be confused with phosgene gas). More recently, high-grade nitrogen gas has proven effective at killing moles, with the added advantage of having no polluting effect to the environment.
  Other common defensive measures include cat litter and blood meal, to repel the mole, or smoking its burrow. Devices are also sold to trap the mole in its burrow, when one sees the "mole hill" moving and therefore knows where the animal is, and then stabbing it.
  Other humane options are also possible including humane traps that capture the mole alive so it may be transported elsewhere. In many contexts including ordinary gardens, the damage caused by moles to lawns is mostly visual, and it is possible instead of extermination to simply remove the earth of the molehills as they appear, leaving their permanent galleries for the moles to continue their existence underground. However, when the tunnels are near the surface in soft ground or after heavy rain, they may collapse, leaving (small) unsightly furrows in the lawn.
caption: Molehills in eastern Bohemia
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