When I was a young lad, where we lived just across the tracks there were wide open fields of prairie, baseball diamonds and even a Tom Sawyer like river where we would swim. We had the best of both worlds: in the city yet sprawling expanses to play. One thing we did was catch and kill gophers. Some were "pets", others we killed for "sport". While some would defend such horrific practices, I could never defend what we did to these mostly harmless rodents. I feel regret and guilt to this day. Have you ever caught, killed, shot, trapped ,or snared gophers "for the fun of it, or to control them on your land"? PS I even named a friend gopher because of his buck teeth. We had a large border collie cross that literally ate one with one gulp.