A gopher is not just a gopher.... When I was growing up as a young boy we use to go out and trap and shoot them.. Thousands of them.. We got a bounty of 2 cents a tail...wow... the farmers biggest pest, next to the crow and magpie.. What was really the big concern as to they were in the food chain for coyotes, wolves, a birds of pray...."hawks and Owls"... which is on the decline...Killing and poisons were used... today yes you can see a few around... but the decline sure took its tole on the birds of prey...
Japan and China use them for pets and food.. in Alberta they are still shot as in other areas. they are fun to watch... protected in the national parks... Its a toss up, what do you want to see...I would like to see more birds of pray. Limit the numbers gophers but leave some for food... It seem that into days habits we have to kill it, if it moves... The same thing has happened to the grizzly bear..food and habitat gone... We have to help out, for the future generations to enjoy...


Gopher is the common term for any of several distinct species of small burrowing rodents endemic to North America, including: the pocket gopher (family Geomyidae),[1] also called true gophers, the ground squirrel (family Sciuridae,) Richardson's ground squirrel, and species of prairie dog.

Gophers weigh around 0.5 pounds (230 g), and are about 15 inches (38 cm) long in body length, with a tail 7 inches (18 cm) long. Their lifespan is normally 2–3 years (assuming no diseases or predation). Gophers dig tunnels and subterranean chambers, and are associated with the rodent order, Rodentia. There are over 100 kinds of gophers in America. Gophers, because of their burrowing, can disrupt human plans like commercial agriculture, garden plots, some landscaping, and some underground cables. This has led to their frequent treatment as pests.
Columbian Ground Squirrel

Gophers are generally timid but may attack if provoked. If deprived of their normal vegetarian food supply, gophers have been known to resort to cannibalism.
Habitat

Gophers create a large community of tunnels with large mounds of dirt (not always mounds of dirt at the top) at their entrances, frequently referred to as gopher towns or gopher holes. They are also found in parks. Adult gophers will frequently stand watch at the entrance to a tunnel and whistle when predators are spotted, causing all the other gophers to run for the safety of the tunnels. A gopher town can easily spread to take over large sections of prairie or mountain meadow and may have a population in the thousands. The resulting destruction of plant life will then leave the area a stretch of denuded dirt. Gophers eat shrubs and other vegetables such as carrots, lettuce, radishes, and any other vegetables with juice. They live in North America and like heat.