Spring reveals vole damage on Winnipeg lawns

CTV’s Jon Hendricks has more on how voles damaged lawns across Winnipeg this winter.

The snow is gone, and for some Winnipeg homeowners, it has revealed they had unwanted guests over the winter. Voles.

“We’re encountering voles all around the city,” said Brayden Shindak of Green Blade Lawn Care. “Nowhere is immune. It’s a very common issue.”

Voles look similar to mice, but unlike their rodent cousins, they have no interest in entering your home. Instead, in late fall they burrow beneath lawns and feed on them throughout the winter.

“So they just tunnel and they keep eating all of anything that might be green over the dead stuff and make a heck of a mess,” said Lincoln Poulin of Poulin’s Pest Control.

The damage they leave behind is hard to miss—small golf ball-sized holes, patches of damaged grass, and worried homeowners.

They come home to this patch that’s, really, really, in need of some attention," said Declan Muys of Green Blade Lawn Care. “And they freak out a little bit, and they kind of worry a little bit of whether or not the grass is going to come back.”

With some TLC—including regular watering—Muys says the grass will recover. But preventing voles from returning is another matter.

While the animals are active year-round, Poulin says the most significant damage happens under snow cover. He suggests the key time to act is in the fall before the snow, recommending keeping grass trimmed shorter heading into winter—and setting traps before the first snowfall.

“You want to start having traps out,” said Poulin. “It is labour-intensive putting snap traps or glue boards out. But it makes a world of difference when the spring comes.”

The difference, potentially, between a healthy lawn in spring and one that served as a vole buffet over winter.