Prairie dogs are the subject of more myths than perhaps any other wildlife species on the Great Plains, despite the fact that scientific findings have debunked most of these misconceptions. When you hear people or the media communicating a myth about prairie dogs, correct them! Tell them what you have learned about prairie dogs and refer them to this Web site.

MYTH: Prairie Dogs Are Everywhere
Actually, black-tailed prairie dogs occupy less than 1 percent of the land they occupied a century ago. 6*

Remaining prairie dog acreage is usually in the form of isolated and fragmented colonies that cannot expand beyond their current boundaries. Especially alarming is the lack of healthy prairie dog complexes (multiple colonies occurring within close proximity of each other) that sustain the multitude of animals who depend on the prairie dog for food or the habitat they create.

MYTH: Prairie Dogs Multiply Like Rabbits
In reality, black-tailed prairie dogs have a low rate of reproduction compared with other small mammals. They breed only once a year, and the average litter size is three to four pups. 9* Furthermore, when confronted with physical barriers to expansion, prairie dogs practice infanticide, resulting in the destruction of up to 50 percent of litters.10*

MYTH: Prairie Dogs Spread the Plague
In fact, prairie dogs rarely transmit plague to humans. This disease does pose a significant threat to prairie dog populations. Because prairie dogs lack immunity to plague, a plague epizootic will kill almost 100 percent of a population. Prairie dogs usually die within a week after contact with the plague bacterium. Other mammals, such as mice, cats, and dogs, carry the plague.

There are only a handful of cases in which prairie dogs have directly transmitted plague to humans. Some of those cases involve humans shooting and skinning prairie dogs. The chances of getting plague from a prairie dog are much less than the chances of being struck by lightning. Plague in humans is easily treatable with standard antibiotics, the recovery rate is high, and recovery time is fairly brief. Companion animals, however, should be kept off prairie dog towns in order to minimize the risk of contracting plague.

The Colorado Department of Health recommends against poisoning prairie dogs to control plague.

To see what John Pape of the Colorado Department of Health and the Environment has to say about the plague topic, click here. For more information, read Rocky Mountain Animal Defense's Prairie Dogs, People and the Plague fact sheet. To download a PDF version of the fact sheet, click here. To learn more about PDF files, click here.

MYTH: Prairie Dogs and Cattle Can't Coexist
Contrary to what many farmers, ranchers and the livestock industry assert, prairie dogs and cattle have a mutually beneficial relationship. Prairie dogs improve the forage for cattle, and cattle grazing allows prairie dog colonies to expand in mid-grass prairie. Both cattle and prairie dogs have demonstrated a preference for grazing together, just as bison and prairie dogs have historically preferred each other's company. The Journal of Range Management has published several articles that confirm these findings. 8*

Cattle-grazing, however, causes extensive ecological damage and is a poor substitute for nature's intended bison/prairie dog relationship.11* To learn more about how your diet could harm prairie dogs, click here.

MYTH: No One Will Miss Prairie Dogs When They're Gone
Those who directly depend on prairie dogs–ferruginous hawks, burrowing owls, golden eagles, coyotes, and black-footed ferrets, to name a few–would miss them dearly.

Ferrets inhabit prairie dog burrows and depend on prairie dogs for more than 95 percent of their dietary needs. The war against the black-tailed prairie dog, which began at the beginning of the twentieth century, is the main reason the black-footed ferret is endangered.

The swift fox and ferruginous hawk also depend on prairie dogs for food, and their numbers have declined along with the prairie dogs'. The mountain plover and burrowing owl depend on the habitat prairie dogs create, and their numbers have also declined throughout their ranges. There are many others–small mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, plants, and insects–whose worlds are crumbling as prairie dogs and their towns continue to be destroyed.

Of course, all of us who respect and cherish life in all of its wondrous forms would dearly miss the prairie dog too.

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