As appeared in the Great Falls Tribune, June 18, 2000.

Source of Illegal Pesticide Unknown

By Kim Skornogoski
Tribune Staff

All week, residents of the Sunnyside Park neighborhood in southeast Great Falls have been bringing bags of poisoned animals to the Cascade County Humane Society.

First it was six dead squirrels, then three more, then some birds and then a dead cat found near a bird carcass.

Then, a black lab puppy was poisoned.

Animal control is trying to find out who laid out the poison, presumably to kill ground squirrels or pocket gophers. Not knowing where the poison is, however, makes finding the guilty party difficult.

Tests results aren't in yet, but Humane Society Director Linda Hughes said all indications are the poison is strychnine, which is outlawed in city limits.

Hughes and area residents are worried. Strychnine that kills dogs can kill children, too.

"I don't want to scare people, but in the same breath I worry about neighborhood children," resident MaRhae McDonald said. "...there's a lot of children playing in this area."

Bob Krattiger walks his dogs through the neighborhood every day, passing Sunnyside School, the University or Great Falls and Benefis East. The Electric City BMX park is nearby.

Sunday, not 45 minutes after his nightly walk, his 6-month-old black lab, Rowdy, went into convulsions.

I was mowing the lawn and I saw him standing there, shaking," Krattiger said. "Then he just fell over. I took him to the vet, but he was too far gone to save him."

The puppy stays in a fenced yard, except for the walks, when he is leashed. But like most puppies, Rowdy would sniff around and pick things up along the way.

Skyline Veterinarian Clinic's Dr. Grant Smith, who tried to save Rowdy, said that 17 years ago he frequently saw cases of pets poisoned with strychnine.

But the trend has died over the years as people realized the devastating ecological affects of the poison, particularly on eagles and other raptors.

"This is the first dog I've seen die of strychnine poisoning in a long time," he said. "Oh, it's awful to see. They go into a tight seizure and their muscles get so stiff they can't breath. I don't know of any other poison that would cause a reaction like that."

Krattiger shivered remembering what happened to his puppy.

"If a kid touched that stuff, it'd do the same thing to him that it did to my dog," he said. "I just couldn't imagine someone's kid going that way. It's an agonizing death.

Animals will show signs of strychnine poisoning – hypersensitivity to sound and touch and seizures – within two hours of digesting it. Smith said.

Hughes believes that the cat brought in the animal shelter died after eating the bird found nearby. She worries that hawks and other predators will die next from eating poisoned ground squirrels.

The Environmental Protection Agency does not allow strychnine to control ground squirrels, except in limited use on farms.

It canceled the poison's use in 1989 because of the risk to threatened endangered species, such as the bald eagle. Ground squirrels killed by strychnine may retain it in their stomachs, and then poison animals, wild and domestic, that eat them.

With so many fields in the southside area, the chance of finding the source of the poison is slim.

The Great Falls School District grounds foreman said the schools, including Sunnyside Elementary, use gas canisters to kill ground squirrels.

The smoke bomb is placed down the hole, and in a few minutes has done its work – a method that leaves other animals unscathed.

Sandstone Apartments manager Jerry Hurley said he's been poisoning rodents on apartment property, but not in the two neighboring fields.

"We do have a serious gopher problem," he said Friday. "I've taken every precaution to make sure all children are safe."

Hurley said he is afraid of strychnine and cyanide and would never use them. Instead, he places a poison suggested by the County Extension Office into 3-foot-long and 3-inch wide pipe, out of reach of children and other animals.

It's active ingredient is Diphacinone, which can be used indoors and out and must be eaten for more than a week to kill rodents.

Mike Karns, Great Falls branch manager for Wilbur-Ellis Co., which sells chemicals to area farmers, said it's near impossible for the average Joe to buy strychnine.

Wilbur-Ellis doesn't sell the poison, but farmers licensed by the state Department of Agriculture can buy it through dealers.

Still, strychnine is sold only in tiny doses. One whole whole or rolled out coated in the powder is fatal to rodents.

Instead of strychnine, the EPA said farmers , ranchers, and other landowners should use registered round squirrel bairs, including zinc phosphide oat baits and Rozol ground squirrel bait.

Strychnine baits are registered solely for control of pocket gophers, not ground squirrels, according to Dan Sullivan of the Vertebrate Pest Management Program for the Montana Department of Agriculture.

Karns said strychnine is used less frequently, but is not uncommon on farms.

Using strychnine within city limits, though, is against the law. City and state law forbids poison from being laid out to kill any animals, including ground squirrels, with fines starting at $25.