A mole-catcher is calling for strychnine to be relicensed as a rodenticide in the UK, 15 years after its EU-wide ban.
Peter Brown, who traps moles on farms across West Yorkshire and East Lancashire, has been a long time campaigner for the reintroduction of strychnine and believes Defra should look again at allowing the poison to be used for the purpose of pest control.
Since the EU banned strychnine in 2006, Mr Brown claims the mole population has increased and,听with a greater number of moles active at any one time, the risk to farmers of listeria contaminating their silage as soil is chopped alongside the grass has risen.
Mr Brown said: "We have got to get strychnine back. The way the climate is changing is making it harder and harder for traps to work, so strychnine, brought back in a controlled and licensed way, would make a huge difference."
Mr Brown said he would be calling on Defra to assess the status of strychnine and called on farmers to back his campaign.
He added: "Soil contamination of silage is a growing problem and we need to get something done to help in the fight against moles.
"Using mole traps on small, private gardens is one thing, but when you are faced with mole problems on large farms it can be a real challenge.
"Changing weather patterns are also making things even harder because the window of time you have to set the traps in good conditions is less predictable than ever before."
The damage one mole can achieve is remarkable. Their lifespan can be between three and six years and they can dig 540 times their own body worth of earth in one day, creating about 5.4 metres (18ft) of tunnel in an hour.
A Defra spokesperson said: "Decisions on the use of pesticides are based on careful scientific assessment of the risks.
"Pesticides are only allowed on to the market if they meet strict environmental requirements and pose no threat to human health."
A Health and Safety Executive spokesperson said products containing substances other than strychnine have been authorised for use against moles in agricultural and non-agricultural settings under the Plant Protection Products Regulation and Biocidal Products Regulation, respectively.
