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PROVO, Utah (AP) -- Hundreds of small mouse-like creatures known as meadow voles are infesting a Utah county town where rapid growth has inadvertently created a haven for the rodents.
The voles in north Lehi, about 30 miles south of Salt Lake City, are nesting in cars, climbing into window wells, scurrying down road gutters, running across feet and in general creating havoc. They're coming from empty fields, which used to be plowed and planted every year. Now the property is unused, waiting for development. That creates a problem, said Pat Fugal, Utah State University Extension Service senior horticultural assistant.
"The tilling kills the voles and destroys their habitat, controlling the population," Fugal said.
The brown furry rodents appear to be larger-than-average chubby mice with short tails. They are about six inches long and they do not know the meaning of shy.
"The weird thing is they aren't afraid of you," resident Jill Clemens said. "They totally have run across my feet. They are fat and slow."
She has tried a mice-killing chemical to get rid of the voles, but when some die, others invade her property replacing them.
Her husband, Dave Clemens, rode a minibike into the neighboring field to see if he could figure out where the pests were coming from.
"That entire field is infested with them," he said. "They are not timid. I pick them up with a shovel, bounce them around and chuck them back into the field."
While the fields are untouched, the voles reproduce -- rapidly. Voles have 10-12 litters a year with 5-10 young in each litter.
Chris Burningham said she sees seven to eight voles on her property each day and has a neighbor who shoots at the invading voles with his BB gun.
"We called the health department and they said to call animal control," Burningham said, adding that animal control couldn't help them either.
Fugal said zinc phosphide, a poison for voles available at outdoor supply centers, will do the job. There are a few in the area who have already been able to use this method and put a stop to their vole problem.
Scott Sampson found 20 voles dead in the window well of his home. He surfed the Internet to identify the little beasts and went to Intermountain Farmers Association for a cure.
The clerk gave him a topical pellet poison which he used liberally. The result: No more voles.
"We could actually see furrows in our lawn and they were getting in the window wells, from time to time running along the concrete," Sampson said.
And then there are the cat owners who are enjoying an influx of cat "gifts."
"They're doing great. There are dead carcasses everywhere," Danielle Wilson said of her three cats. "I've got one cat that killed eight in one day."
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Information from: The Daily Herald, http://www.heraldextra.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
