permaculture

[Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>]

Moles themselves don't do much harm; their principal food is earthworms,
but worms breed pretty fast, thus unless you've got tons of moles they
shouldn't hurt worm populations  (moles often mean your soil is good). The
grubs that moles eat are usually white grubs, the larvae of June beetles,
definitely a naughty insect (chickens and ducks are really good at nailing
grubs). Moles are pretty non-selective in their bug feeding, usually eating
soil-dwelling larvae and adult insects. Many beneficial insect larvae don't
live in the soil, but up on plants, so moles probably take out more bad
bugs than good.

With moles, it's the collateral damage that can be a problem. As you noted,
they can trash root systems by accident, or while going for root-feeding
bugs. You'll just have to observe whether plant damage escalates. A lot of
other animals use mole tunnels: shrews (also bug-eaters), mice, voles,
rats, and gophers, and that's where more harm can come from. But since you
say there's not a lot of damage, I'd live and let live. Supposedly moles
can spread disease, but this seems to be a broad brush that many poorly
understood species are tarred with. I think moles get their bad rap because
they make those ugly mounds in nice suburban lawn-carpets. That's clearly
the work of Satan's minions, thus, the thinking goes, there must be lots
more wrong with moles beyond just tunneling.




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