Moles! Moles! Moles!

According to more than one “reliable” internet source: Moles are antisocial, solitary animals; they live alone except to breed. A mole typically travels more than one-fifth of an acre. No more than three to five moles live on each acre; two to three moles is a more common number…

Yeah!  Sure!  You betcha!   Breeding AND birthing seasons must be long over in our grassy patch in that case, and the young are grown and still taking lessons from mom on how to ruin the recently verdant vistas around my house.

Everywhere I look — more mole hills! Oh joy!

I am a bit confused about how I can legally get rid of these annoying critters.  It’s not as if there  aren’t plenty of yummy, grass covered open spaces in Oysterville that are NOT part of someone’s garden — especially not a part of MY garden.  But when I ask (again on the somewhat unreliable internet) if it is legal to kill the critters in Washington State, I get several different answers:

1.  Moles are unclassified and people may trap or kill moles on their own property when they are causing damage to crops, domestic animals, or their property (RCW 77.36. 030).
2. While moles are unclassified, meaning that people may trap or kill them on their own property when they are causing damage to crops, domestic animals, or property, traditionally used mole traps are illegal in Washington State due to their body-gripping design.

Lesson from our Hawthorne tree — Just rise above them!

So…it becomes another full-time occupation:  Moles and gophers can damage your lawn and garden. Control them humanely by eliminating their food source, spraying with liquid repellents, scattering repellent granules, using barriers and/or digging trenches lined with wire mesh or hardware cloth.

Yep!  I’ll get right on that.