[NAFEX] Would CO2 Be Organic to kill ground hogs?
list at ginda.us
list at ginda.us
Thu Feb 5 22:21:31 EST 2004
On Feb 5, 2004, at 1:11 PM, Erdman, Jim wrote:
> . . .
>
> I think tom is thinking of Halon extinguishers, as I see many CO2
> ones around, and see them listed in catalogs. Also, I believe that
> excess CO2 makes you drowsy, so rather than running away or digging
> away, a groundhog might decide to take a nap, one that he would never
> wake from.
>
> Sounds like an idea to me, now to figure out how many cubic feet of
> CO2 are in the big tank that we got at an auction and use for
> carbonating beer and soda that we make--and then locate the low
> entrances of the burrows.
>
> Jim Erdman, in Menomine, WI
>
I think you are confusing carbon dioxide (CO2) with carbon monoxide
(CO). Carbon monoxide makes you drowsy, and gives you a nasty headache
if you recover. As a way of killing animals, it is pretty humane. CO2
suffocation, in contrast, is very very unpleasant. I once worked in a
lab where a lot of rodents were killed in the name of science. Usually
we decapitated them, which is quick. But once someone killed a cage of
hamsters by gassing them with CO2. The poor things were miserable, and
gasped and writhed for a long time before they succumbed. CO2 is the
product of respiration, and it is mostly the level of CO2 in your blood
and lungs that triggers the "take a breath" reflex. Too much CO2 is
what makes you feel like you are suffocating, and in greater
quantities, it burns the lungs. (Forming carbolic acid, I think.)
This is not a nice way to kill a groundhog. It also triggers the "I'm
trapped in a closed cave" feeling, so my guess is that the groundhog
would look for a way out, and you'd probably make it miserable without
actually killing it. After all, a little too much CO2 must build up in
burrows fairly frequently.
Acute lead poisoning is kinder and more likely to work.
Ginda
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