|
Poisoning is responsible for huge reductions in prairie dog populations over the years. Back in the 1920s, the U.S. government poisoned close to 32 MILLION acres of prairie dog colonies, based on the belief that prairie dogs competed with cattle. Until very recently, the federal government sanctioned the poisoning of prairie dogs on both private and public lands. Despite the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's warranted but precluded finding for the black-tailed prairie dog, prairie dogs continue to be poisoned on federal land. Prairie dogs on federal land managed by the Bureau of Prisons were poisoned in September 2000, and prairie dogs at the Denver Federal Center (managed by the federal General Services Administration) were poisoned in February 2001. Through legal action, Rocky Mountain Animal Defense (RMAD) and the Fund for Animals forced the Bureau of Prisons to agree to an environmental assessment and prairie dog management plan before taking any future action against prairie dogs on their land, and RMAD is investigating possible legal violations in the Denver Federal Center poisoning. State agencies throughout the Great Plains continue to be heavily involved in poisoning prairie dogs. In Colorado, prairie dogs in rural areas are rarely tolerated by farmers or ranchers and are routinely poisoned. Residential and commercial growth along the Front Range of the Rockies has led developers to poison, at alarming rates, prairie dog colonies on lands slated for development. Particularly disturbing is the noticeable increase in poisoning along the Front Range since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife ruling in February 2000. Landowners appear to be reacting to the ruling by deciding to get rid of prairie dogs on their lands for fear that protection of the species might become federally mandated in the future. Development is an especially significant threat to prairie dogs along the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies. While the conversion of short- and mixed-grass prairie land to agricultural use has been responsible for a large reduction in prairie dog habitat in the Great Plains historically, urbanization is an increasing source of habitat loss for prairie dogs today. The impact of development is total destruction for prairie dogs. Because of the lack of managed-growth policies in Colorado, prairie dog colonies on land slated for development along the Front Range are likely doomed. Few cities and counties have established policies for prairie dog conservation or, as a last resort, relocation. Developers with prairie dogs on their land are not encouraged to seek out alternatives to poisoning or bulldozing before construction. Even if they are willing to relocate the animals, developers find their efforts come to a dead end due to a lack of land sites available for relocation. Rocky Mountain Animal Defense has recorded the destruction of more than 100 prairie dog colonies through poisoning and bulldozing associated with development. Unbelievably, prairie dog shooting is considered a sport by a substantial number of people. Calling themselves "varmint hunters" or "varmint militia," these people essentially use prairie dogs for target practice. An entire for-profit industry has developed around shooting prairie dogs for "fun" that includes the sale of high-powered rifles and bullets that tear into prairie dogs' bodies and cause them to literally explode. States throughout the Great Plains region embrace this industry as a lucrative source of revenue and have shown little interest in protecting prairie dogs, a threatened keystone species of the West, from this cruel practice. Due to the efforts of wildlife advocates, prairie dog shooting was restricted in 1997. As of Sept. 1, 2001, it is illegal to shoot prairie dogs on public lands. A loophole that gives private landholders permission to shoot prairie dogs if they are damaging land still exists. Rocky Mountain Animal Defense considers that loophole a significant one because the bulk of our remaining prairie dogs reside on private lands in the state. Home
• Keystone Species •
Threats • Myths
• News |