The two were trespassing on the construction site of the Boulder Junior Soccer fields located at U.S. 36 and Jay Road. Joined by about a dozen activists who protested along the highway, Thayer said she saw prairie dogs struggle to get to the surface after construction crews had flattened the site.
"Many have already been buried in their burrows and they are trying to dig their way out," she said. "That's why we had to act."
Though Thayer and Bear risked arrest during the two-hour showdown, no charges were pressed.
Rather, animal rights advocates claimed a victory after Ed Meacham, a zoning inspector for the Boulder County land use department, said the Ford Construction and Landscaping Co. would have to halt their operations for 28 days because the contractor had appeared to violate rules - not because of the prairie dogs, but instead for moving more dirt and gravel than they were permitted.
"We raised enough of a fuss that they're backing down," Thayer proclaimed.
The triumphant feelings of activists were short-lived, however.
Within hours, another county official, and then Meacham, declared the proclamation had never been enacted.
"Ed went out prepared to issue a stop work order, but I determined there was no cause for it," Gerry George, chief building official for the land use department, said.
The contractor did not develop more than 50 cubic yards, the threshold that triggers county site reviews, requiring building permits, he said.
Added Meacham, "The contractor can go back to work, but I think they're pretty much done at the moment."
Boulder Junior Soccer is planning a 23-acre soccer site that will include eight soccer fields, each about an acre, and a 5-acre parking lot. The development will host other organizations, such as the Boulder Nova Soccer Club.
While Dave Crawford, the executive director of Rocky Mountain Animal Defense, held hope that Boulder Junior Soccer would allow activists to recover buried animals, Barb Roper, cofounder of Boulder Junior Soccer, said there were no animals to be recovered.
"We already removed the prairie dogs," she said. "We trapped them and moved them."
She added that several acres alongside the new fields have been set aside as a prairie dog reserve, and that Boulder Junior Soccer used traps to move animals.
Crawford estimated that as many as 350 animals are on the site, but Roper did not specify how many were moved.
If any prairie dogs were buried, Roper said unknown animal rights activists bore the blame.
"Activists have been coming onto our property and spreading food to entice them back," she said.
A letter "to the editor" authored by Roper and posted on the www.NovaSoccer.com makes more specific claims. It states that RMAD and other activists "have continued to sabotage and harass us without any 'real' offers of help [and] are directly responsible for the demise of the remaining prairie dogs at the new fields."
Crawford said Roper's comments and the Web postings border on being libelous.
"She's grasping at straws," Crawford said of Roper.
Like Thayer, Crawford added that he spotted a prairie dog burrowing to the surface where construction was taking place Thursday.
Despite disappointment that the county did not find cause to halt the construction and the disagreement with Roper, Crawford is hopeful the RMAD and Boulder Junior Soccer can work together.
"We are still hopeful that they can see that it is a win-win situation to deal with us," he said.
Eldorado Natural Spring Water Inc., one of the sponsor's of the youth soccer club, is hoping for the same, according to the company's vice president, Jeremy Martin.
"I'm sure the kids don't want to play on fields where prairie dogs were killed," he said. "On the other hand, I'm sure kids want to have fields to play on. I'm sure there is a win-win situation here where everyone can be happy."
He added that the company has never seen a controversy before regarding the league, and was surprised that the animals were on the site.
Neither county law nor state law protects prairie dogs from being killed by developers so long as they are killed humanely. There is a "kicker" that both the developers of the soccer playing fields and animal rights activists might be interested in, according to David Callahan, a planning manager for the land use department. It revolves around the intended use of the site, he said.
"The part of this that's a gray area to me is whether or not those who use the recreational fields will be paying fees," he said.
Should fees be paid to
Boulder Junior Soccer or to others, as is the case with golf and rifle ranges
for example, it could pave the way to a special use review process. That process
could subject Boulder Junior Soccer's proposed fields to the scrutiny of County
Commissioners and require public comment sessions.
FAQs • How You Can
Help • Prairie Dogs as "Pets"
Resources & References • Download
Information • Membership
Site Map