Lviv region national park seeks activists to save endangered Ukrainian gophers

Most people don't think that most miniature animals can live right next to us and hide underground and in the grass. Some of them we can only hear. For example, a thin squealing on one note in the steppe area among various grasses can indicate that gophers live here. 

Spotted gopher, listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. Photo: Mykhailo Rusin / @photodocumentalist

Once upon a time, the spotted gopher was a widespread species in Ukraine and lived almost all over the forest steppe. However, already at the beginning of the 21st century, their number decreased sharply. In recent decades, isolated settlements have been known to specialists in the Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, and Lviv regions.

The main reason for the decrease in the number of gophers is the destruction of their habitats and the targeted extermination of rodents.

The population of gophers has decreased significantly over the last 50 to 60 years due to plowing, hunting of gophers, and reduction of cattle grazing. Photo: Mykhailo Rusin / @photodocumentalist

In Ukraine in the 1950s and 1960s, several million gopher skins were harvested every year — they were bought cheaply and caught en masse. Then, in the 1990s, the number of domestic livestock decreased sharply, and their grazing places, where gophers like to live, were either overgrown with bushes and trees or turned into plowed fields. Vast areas of monocultures do not have the necessary variety of food for rodents, and constant plowing and chemical treatment only worsened the situation. In addition, gophers were considered pests, so they were constantly poisoned along with other rodents.

Although the spotted gopher is listed in the Red Book of Ukraine and protected under the Berne Convention, it does not live in specific nature conservation areas where nothing would threaten it — it remains in unprotected nature. However, the situation may change.

Volodymyr Batochenko, chief scientist of the Northern Podillia National Nature Park, shows us the way to the outskirts of the village of Zalissia in the Brodivska hromada in the Lviv region.

Volodymyr Batochenko, chief scientist of the Northern Podillia National Nature Park on an arroyo near the village of Zalissia, where one of the largest colonies of spotted gophers is located.

According to local reports, a colony of spotted gophers has been living here for about ten years, and they can be heard in the fields. Having heard their cry at least once, you will not confuse them with anyone else. This is how animals warn each other about danger. Low grass on the beam and grazing cows create good conditions for these rodents. Rodentologist Mykhailo Rusin, a researcher at the Kyiv Zoo who came to investigate the colony, shares that thanks to the pasture, the colony of gophers has survived here. The territory of this arroyo (dried up river bed — ed.) is about twenty hectares, and here is one of the largest colonies of gophers in Ukraine, at least from those known to scientists. Scientists are already registering several hundred individuals this year, which can vary from dozens to several hundred. "All this is because the territory is now in very good condition," explains the scientist.

Rodentologist Mykhailo Rusin, a researcher at the Kyiv Zoo, says that several hundred spotted gophers can live on the beam behind him.

He emphasized that this territory must be protected from plowing, and pastures, which are no longer used so actively due to the reduction of livestock in villages, should be prevented from being turned into continuous fields of monocultures.

To protect the red-listed species, scientists from the Northern Podillia National Nature Park have developed a project to organize a reserve where the colony is located. Only in this way will it be possible to preserve local nature and the ecosystem in which gophers live.

Similar sanctuaries are already being created by the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group in Vinnytsia and Odesa.

The arroyo near the village of Zalissia has favorable conditions for gophers. Low grass and pasture ensure their existence. However, there are fewer and fewer cattle in the villages, and the arroyo is becoming overgrown with tall grass, bushes, and trees.

However, creating the reserve is not enough. To save the gopher on the beam, you need to act now, and scientists know how.

There are two ways to save gophers, and both require human intervention

Creating a reserve is a long process, taking months or years, but this is precious time, and if it is lost, the gophers can disappear.

Now, the pasture where the gophers live is used ten times less actively than it used to be. Thirty years ago, about fifty cows grazed here, but during Rusin's expedition, there were only five. Such a small number of animals tramples the tall grass less and does not eat the growth of young trees and bushes, and as a result, the meadow turns into thickets of shrubs. Already today, the valley floor is overgrown with bushes and trees, and they are gradually creeping up the slope.

Tall grasses grow above the beam where the gophers live. Although it looks nice, it's not beneficial for gophers, who tend to leave places where tall grass grows.

"Gophers can live only where cows, sheep, or horses graze actively. They need short grass. But in tall grass, they completely disappear in a few years," Rusin warns.

Batochenko adds that only through human activities can we maintain the condition of this territory so that the gopher can live here. "It's either cattle grazing or mowing," says the scientist. In the European Union there are state programs in which farmers are given funds to buy and keep livestock.

The spotted gopher is prey for birds. Low grass allows gophers to see a predator from afar and hide in a burrow. Photo: Mykhailo Rusin / @photodocumentalist

"People themselves find where to graze cattle and where to mow grass for them," Batochenko explains.

Until Ukraine joins the EU, villagers and nature reserve fund objects cannot access such programs. However, there is another way to save the gopher colony.

Cows used to be much more widespread in Zalissia, and grazing helped keep the area suitable for gophers. The number of domestic animals is decreasing, leading to the overgrowth of bushes and trees in the arroyo.

Anyone can help save gophers

Batochenko believes a two-day visit of eight or ten people with trimmers to Zalissia could help.

"Scientifically, this is called biotechnical measures — the removal of invasive trees and plants that deteriorate the quality of ecosystems and turn the pasture into unsuitable for the existence of gophers," says Rusin.

Volodymyr Batochenko believes that ten volunteers could save the gopher colony in a few days.

An action plan for this has already been developed. First, you must completely remove the overgrown trees, especially if they are invasive. Then, mow the grass in the low part of the arroyo, where the gophers cannot live in the tall grass. Of course, all these measures are coordinated with the local community and land users. 

Therefore, if you have the talent and desire to help, please contact Volodymyr Batochenko, a senior researcher at the Northern Podillia Research Institute via [email protected] or Mykhailo Rusin via [email protected].

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