Residents of a New Mexico town have been turning in dead gopher tails for money as part of a bounty program established by the Carlsbad Soil and Conservation District to control the pests.
The Current-Argus reports that the district offers residents $6 for each gopher tail brought in on the first Monday of each month.
District employee Judith McCollaum had counted 266 of the furry tails nearly two hours before the monthly turn-in deadline on Monday. Dozens of tails sat in a pickle jar filled with witch hazel and several more were in small Ziploc bags.
McCollaum says the bounty program is necessary to protect farmers whose crops are negatively impacted by gopher activity.
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Information from: Carlsbad Current-Argus.
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