Bubba’s on mole patrol

Forget what you’ve heard about The Terminator.

Rambo.

And even The Rock.

You ain’t seen nothing, ’til you’ve seen Bubba.

A 9-year-old miniature dachshund, Bubba lives with Fremonters Dale and Betty Reandeau. Like other dogs, the friendly little pooch sits up, rolls over and plays dead -- all for a doggie treat.

But in Ridge Cemetery, Bubba is one lean, mean, mole-hunting machine.

At a whopping 18 pounds, 6 ounces, Bubba is deadly to moles that have caused a lot of headaches for cemetery sexton Jim Clarke. In the past three years, Bubba has killed more than 80 moles -- gray, furry varmints, about 3 inches long that burrow into the ground, making it lumpy and killing the grass.

People complained about the mole damage at Ridge. And before Bubba, Clarke said he tried about everything to get rid of the trouble-causing creatures.

He brought out experts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

“They told us that if we wanted to get rid of them that we’d pretty much have to kill everything in the ground,” Clarke said.

But that would mean killing the earthworms, too, and they make for healthy soil.

So Clarke sought other methods.

“We tried poison peanuts and poison grain and we did kill a few,” he said.

That created other problems.

People walking their dogs through the cemetery were angry when their pets ate moles killed by the poison and, in turn, became very ill.

“One lady threatened to sue, because her dog got so sick and she had to take it to the vet,” he said.

Clarke tried mole traps -- the kind that fit over the tunnels.

But then Clarke worried about children, who come to burial sites with their families, getting hurt by the traps.

The experts did have one other solution: Bull snakes.

Put snakes in the cemetery?

Clarke didn’t like that idea, either.

So experts told Clarke that he’d never get rid of the moles -- not as long as the cemetery continued to be near open fields.

It seemed like a hopeless situation.

Then along came Bubba.

The Reandeaus have had Bubba since he was a puppy. He’s their fourth dachshund. Their third lived to be 13 years old and they were brokenhearted he died.

They’d spent five years without a dog, when their children, Deb Gasper and Steve Reandeau of Fremont and Mike Reandeau of Bloomington, Ill., gave Bubba to Betty as a Mother’s Day gift.

Betty started teaching Bubba some tricks. Bubba can sneeze and show his teeth on command. He lifts his paw to give Betty a high five. He dances in a circle.

“He’s a good, well-behaved dog,” Dale said.

He also likes to take walks. Since 1961, when the Reandeaus moved to their current home, they’ve enjoyed walking their dogs through the cemetery. There’s little traffic. It’s quiet and a nice place for people who like nature.

Bubba likes it, too.

Never straying too far from Betty, he flashes a doggy smile while waddling along the cemetery’s cement paths. With head held high, he almost seems to gallop as he makes his rounds on the mole patrol.

Suddenly he stops, listens, sniffs the air and then nose-dives into a mole hole. Taking matters into his own paws, he digs furiously. The mole doesn’t have much of a chance. Bubba chomps it in the middle, then tosses the dead animal over his back.

And is on to the next job.

Betty then quickly puts the dirt and sod back in place.

Most would probably think Bubba is performing a community service. He kills moles at no expense to taxpayers. He never complains on the job nor takes unnecessary coffee breaks.

But not everyone has been happy.

One woman called the Clarke home and complained about someone letting a dog dig holes in the cemetery. Clarke said his wife, Cherrie, explained the situation to the woman who then was satisfied.

Betty does worry about people driving too fast through the cemetery who might not be on the lookout for a dog.

But for about 1 1/2 hours each day, she takes a walk, while Bubba, the mole hunter, makes his rounds.

To moles, he’s dangerous. But to Clarke and the Reandeaus, Bubba is top dog at the cemetery.