Reader, Shelby Snider recently wrote in with some interesting advice on controlling voles:

"David, I have a very natural method of getting rid of these critters. I have three little terrier dogs and 3 cats (two just 8 months old). If my little dogs can get even a slight smell of the voles or moles they will dig until they get them. The cats sleep all day and hunt all night. Their treasures are of course left for me. Before I got the dogs and cats I was being invaded by the moles and voles really bad. Then my granddaughter insisted on getting a kitten, and she got two instead. They teamed up and were really good hunters. Then I got the dogs and they were great! My cats were getting older and didn't want to hunt any more. So just this past spring I got two more kittens and now they are becoming great hunters. I think the cats work better in pairs."

Of course, with all that digging going on for the sake of controlling voles, you might also have to do a bit of lawn repair, afterwards!