WQAD.com
07-12-06
Davenport cemetery overrun by groundhogs
DAVENPORT, Iowa The oldest cemetery in Davenport has a problem -- it's being
overrun by groundhogs.
Officials say the critters are digging tunnels under gravestones at City Cemetery
and in at least one case, pitched up human remains. Dan Sherman of the city's
parks department says the bones were reburied.
The department is in charge of maintenance at the 25-acre cemetery, which
dates to 1836.
Sherman says since last Friday, eleven groundhogs have been caught and
destroyed.
Before the trapping started, almost a dozen groundhogs were spotted in a halfhour.
Sherman says groundhog damage is a common problem in cemeteries.
Jim Pease of the Iowa State University Extension says it's legal in Iowa to killtrap the big rodents, shoot them in season and poison them by setting off a gas
mixture of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide.