Rodents ravage loved ones’ graves

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - Parts of an Idaho Falls cemetery are being ravaged by rodents.

Voles are small critters that look like field mice. The situation at Fielding Cemetery has one family very upset -- so they reached out to Local News 8 for help.

Gail Landon comes to the Fielding Cemetery regularly to visit her parents', sister's, and husband's grave sites. The voles have dug several holes and tunnels around some of the graves. Gail is upset and scared about what this could mean in the future.

"I don't want to be buried with mice all over in my grave,” she said. “Would you want to come out and find your mother's grave like this?"

Landon also says the cemetery's water system does not reach her family's side of the plot. So the ground around their graves is often very dry. Landon's sister, Sandra Bybee, says this is the worst she's seen her family's burial site.

"We've been coming here for years because we're natives of Idaho Falls. My father's grave is there. He's been buried for 40 years and never have I seen the cemetery in such horrible condition as it is right now,” she said.

We talked with the Idaho Falls Parks and Recreation Department. They say it is a struggle to kill the rodents, but they are working on it.

"We've reached out to a couple of pest eradication companies. It's a very expensive process to eradicate a large piece of property like Fielding Cemetery from something like this,” said Idaho Falls Parks and Recreation Director, PJ Holm. “And so we're trying to kind of think outside the box and do what we can."

Holm says the department needs more money and staff to help maintain and improve the cemetery, along with other public areas in Idaho Falls.

If you'd like to help the Parks and Recreation Department get rid of voles and maintain the cemetery, click HERE.