Bring in Carl Spackler!!
A colony of groundhogs has infiltrated the grounds on and surrounding the athletic fields at Lisbon High School and are becoming an ongoing nuisance, according to school officials.
Holes have been found on the athletic fields and the walkways connecting the fields, including the field hockey and track facilities.
Officials said they have few options on how to deal with the varmints, in part because catching and releasing the animals on anything but town property is not allowed.
The groundhogs have become such a serious issue that Lisbon School Committee members have discussed the creatures and how to get rid of them at the past two business meetings.
“You can’t poison them, you can’t kill them,” Superintendent Richard Green said. “You can’t trap them and release them anywhere but your own property.”
On Monday, the School Committee unanimously voted to include the woodchuck issue on next year’s capital improvement plan for the schools. The cost to rid the pest from school grounds has yet to be determine.
Allen Ouellette, Lisbon’s director of Operations and Transportation, discussed the issue during the committee’s October meeting.
“We’re filling in holes. We’re persistent as they are,” Ouellette said. “We can’t trap. There are all sorts of special procedures. We keep burying the holes and throwing rocks down the holes and they dig them out.”
“I know one night (staff) filled all the holes with dirt right before a game and the next morning they were all dug out with vengeance,” Green added. “You could see where they kicked the dirt out.”
While reminiscent of the damage caused by the gopher in the classic movie “Caddyshack,” school officials say that far from a laughing matter, the holes have become a serious safety issue.
Members wondered how other school districts have dealt with a similar problem. They suggested researching possible solutions and contacting a pest company that deals in more than just common household challenges.
“It is tricky, and I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on this, but when you have mice or ants or rats, there are certain things you can do, certain people you can call,” said committee member Laura Craig.
Committee member Vernon Lickfeld suggested another option: Officials could trap them and release them on town-owned property far from the athletic fields.
“Thinking outside of the box, technically the schools are on town property,” he said. “The town has all kinds of property. There’s got to be a square foot somewhere in town where we can give them a new home. If literally the thing holding us up is that it has to be on town property, we have all sorts of property. Not the waterfront. That would not be a great spot. Maybe the town has a place where they’d love to set up a groundhog motel.”
“We have hundreds of kids, hundreds of spectators walking around dealing with this,” committee Chair Margaret Galligan Schmoll said. “All it takes is one person to step in a hole, break an ankle or get bit by a groundhog.”
And it is not just the high school athletic fields. The grounds surrounding the Gartley Street School have a groundhog issue. The board was told the number of rodents on school property could be as high as 30.
Groundhogs digging holes around Lisbon athletic fields becoming safety issue
‘One night (staff) filled all the holes with dirt right before a game and the next morning they were all dug out with vengeance,’ Superintendent Richard Green said.A colony of groundhogs has infiltrated the grounds on and surrounding the athletic fields at Lisbon High School and are becoming an ongoing nuisance, according to school officials.
Holes have been found on the athletic fields and the walkways connecting the fields, including the field hockey and track facilities.
Officials said they have few options on how to deal with the varmints, in part because catching and releasing the animals on anything but town property is not allowed.
The groundhogs have become such a serious issue that Lisbon School Committee members have discussed the creatures and how to get rid of them at the past two business meetings.
“You can’t poison them, you can’t kill them,” Superintendent Richard Green said. “You can’t trap them and release them anywhere but your own property.”
On Monday, the School Committee unanimously voted to include the woodchuck issue on next year’s capital improvement plan for the schools. The cost to rid the pest from school grounds has yet to be determine.
Allen Ouellette, Lisbon’s director of Operations and Transportation, discussed the issue during the committee’s October meeting.
“We’re filling in holes. We’re persistent as they are,” Ouellette said. “We can’t trap. There are all sorts of special procedures. We keep burying the holes and throwing rocks down the holes and they dig them out.”
“I know one night (staff) filled all the holes with dirt right before a game and the next morning they were all dug out with vengeance,” Green added. “You could see where they kicked the dirt out.”
While reminiscent of the damage caused by the gopher in the classic movie “Caddyshack,” school officials say that far from a laughing matter, the holes have become a serious safety issue.
Members wondered how other school districts have dealt with a similar problem. They suggested researching possible solutions and contacting a pest company that deals in more than just common household challenges.
“It is tricky, and I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on this, but when you have mice or ants or rats, there are certain things you can do, certain people you can call,” said committee member Laura Craig.
Committee member Vernon Lickfeld suggested another option: Officials could trap them and release them on town-owned property far from the athletic fields.
“Thinking outside of the box, technically the schools are on town property,” he said. “The town has all kinds of property. There’s got to be a square foot somewhere in town where we can give them a new home. If literally the thing holding us up is that it has to be on town property, we have all sorts of property. Not the waterfront. That would not be a great spot. Maybe the town has a place where they’d love to set up a groundhog motel.”
“We have hundreds of kids, hundreds of spectators walking around dealing with this,” committee Chair Margaret Galligan Schmoll said. “All it takes is one person to step in a hole, break an ankle or get bit by a groundhog.”
And it is not just the high school athletic fields. The grounds surrounding the Gartley Street School have a groundhog issue. The board was told the number of rodents on school property could be as high as 30.
