Glendale woman stuck in battle against gophers that have infested her yard

Ayush May 20, 2024

Lori Dunkel told 12News she had caught 60 gophers in her yard since October and is working with her neighbors to stop the infestation.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — With her tool bucket in tow, Lori Dunkel walks through her Glendale yard looking for something she wishes she didn’t have to find.

“If you were to look right now, you wouldn’t know where to look, because everybody looks for mounds, and I know where to look beyond the mounds,” Dunkel said.

Beyond the mounds are gophers burrowing beneath Dunkel’s yard and home near 75th Avenue and Camelback Road.

“They’ve eaten through the concrete and to my water line,” Dunkel said.

Dunkel has trapped 60 gophers since October, but they’re repopulating faster than she can keep up.

“This is bigger than me,” Dunkel said.

The rodents have dug tunnels stretching from one home to another. Dunkel said nearly every yard on the block is infested.

“If I get rid of mine, their babies are just going to come back,” Dunkel said.

Verner Swenson, the owner of Critter Evictors, said the most effective way to get rid of gophers is by using mechanical traps underground.

“They’re creatures of habit. Target those areas and physically remove them from the property,” Swenson said.

He added it can be difficult to permanently remove them if the entire neighborhood is affected.

“Ideally, you have a communal effort,” Swenson said. “We basically are modifying the habitat so that gophers cannot infest in those areas.”

Dunkel said she’s already taught her neighbors how to trap the rodents.

“It’s devastating,” Dunkel said. “I used to sit out on my back patio and I would enjoy this, and I can’t really, because I see gopher mounds.”

She said even they can’t tackle the rodents alone.

Dunkel is planning to host a community meeting this summer, and she is calling on her City of Glendale leaders to help them out by making a plan of attack so they can all live peacefully once again.

“It’s just it’s consumed me,” Dunkel said. “I’m a widow with gophers and so I have no plan. I have no way to address this, other than if I were to say, let’s start doing it here.”

The community meeting will be hosted in Phoenix with a virtual option. Details will be released soon.

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