Patent ID: 7617630

Claim:
A system for exterminating subterranean burrowing air-breathing animals which burrow subterranean tunnels having burrow hole openings at ground level, the system comprising: an elongate arm having a base end and an opposite distal end, a frame mountable to a vehicle, said base end of said arm mounted to said frame, a selectively actuable actuator mounted so as to cooperate between said frame and said arm, said actuator when selectively actuated operating to at least raise and permit lowering of said distal end of said arm so that said distal end of said arm is positioned directly over a burrow hole opening wherein said actuator is remotely actuable from within said vehicle when said frame is mounted to said vehicle, at least one reservoir of at least one lethal substance lethal to the air-breathing animals when introduced into the burrow hole openings, said at least one reservoir mounted adjacent said frame, at least one conduit cooperating between said at least one reservoir and said arm, means for urging said at least one lethal substance alone said at least one conduit to convey said at least one lethal substance along said arm for delivery of said at least one lethal substance from said distal end of said arm into the burrow hole openings, wherein said means for urging said at least one lethal substance along said arm is remotely actuable from within said vehicle when said frame is mounted to said vehicle, and wherein said distal end of said arm is adapted to cover at least one of the burrow hole openings but is not adapted to penetrate said distal end into the burrow hole openings in order to deliver said at least one lethal substance into a lethal proximity to the animals to be exterminated, wherein said distal end covers the burrow hole openings by means of a bonnet mounted to, so as to form part of, said distal end of said arm, said bonnet defining a bonnet cavity and having a lower opening into said cavity, said bonnet downwardly disposing said opening below said arm, said bonnet cooperating with said at least one conduit so that delivery of one lethal substance of said at least one lethal substance is into said bonnet cavity for delivery therefrom into the burrow hole openings while the bonnet covers the openings, and wherein said arm includes hollow first and second conduits extending from substantially said frame to said distal end of said arm, each said first and second conduits having a base end and an opposite distal end, said distal ends of said first and second conduits mounted in fluid communication with said bonnet cavity, said base ends of said first and second conduits mounted in fluid communication with, respectively, a source of exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine, and a second source of lethal gas wherein said lethal gas is lethal either directly as a poison or indirectly as a suffocating agent to the air-breathing burrowing animals.