‘Win for farmers’: Saskatchewan welcomes temporary strychnine approval

Health Canada is allowing temporary strychnine in Saskatchewan and Alberta amid gopher issues. Mick Favel reports.

The Government of Saskatchewan is welcoming a federal decision to temporarily approve strychnine use to help manage the province’s gopher population.

The province sent a revised emergency use request for the use of two per cent liquid strychnine last week to the Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulator Agency (PMRA).

The revised request included additional “stewardship measures” and “environmental safeguards.”

The measures include increased monitoring, carcass collection and disposal requirements, enhanced mandatory training, and a refined geographic scope.

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The poison is now approved for use in seven crop districts in southwest, southeast, south central and northwest Saskatchewan. According to the province, the areas were chosen using data from the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Premier Scott Moe called Ottawa’s decision a “win for Saskatchewan farmers.”

The federal authorization allows strychnine to be registered for use in both Saskatchewan and Alberta until November 2027.

“It’s something we’ve been trying to get and advocating for with the federal government for quite some time,” Agriculture Minister David Marit told media on Tuesday.

“It was good to see.”

Marit added that he was thankful that around 119 municipalities were covered and hopes to work toward an expansion of the area covered, especially, especially if there are any gaps found.

In a news release sent Tuesday, the province included statements of support from eight agriculture related organizations including the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association and the Sask. Cattle Association.

Opposition from animal advocates

However, support for the decision was far from unanimous. Animal Justice, a national nonprofit organization that lobbies for stronger animal protection laws, condemned the PRMA decision - calling it “irresponsible.”

“This decision is appallingly irresponsible. The PMRA did the right thing when it made the science-based decision to ban the use of strychnine in Canada,” Alexandra Pester, a staff lawyer for Animal Justice, said in a statement released Tuesday.

“There is no safe or environmentally acceptable way to poison animals with strychnine. It is an indiscriminate poison that causes excruciating pain to all animals who ingest it.”

Earlier this month, the nonprofit sent a letter signed by over a dozen advocacy groups to the PMRA, opposing the use of strychnine to kill gophers.

Strychnine was outlawed by the province in 2023 after a two-year phase-out, followed by a federal ban the following year.