Prairie Dog Prayer
Prairie dogs are a nuisance for most farmers and ranchers
This article is obviously biased against prairie dogs, but does provide an insight into the mindset of farmers and ranchers. There are numerous studies documenting that prairie dogs do not compete with cattle for forage as there are numerous studies documenting the opposite. It is just a matter of who performed the study. I think the answer to this is that prairie dogs become an issue for farmers and ranchers AFTER farmers and ranchers have turned PRAIRIE into farms and ranches. Read the article at:Farms and Ranches
No freedom to ruin public lands
Wild mustangs are an invasive species in the American West. But, then, so are all the humans living here who are not of American Indian descent.
The wild lands in Utah and other Western states where wild horses now roam are fragile and arid — places easily endangered by encroaching, rapidly multiplying horses numbering in the thousands and tens of millions of people who are multiplying even faster and doing more to threaten the land.
Humans have all but obliterated many of the native plant and animal species, including wolves, buffalo, beaver, otters, sage grouse, tortoises, prairie dogs and myriad varieties of plants and even fish.
Running cattle on fragile public land causes more harm than wild horses do, but the humans who have taken over this part of the globe do not want to share scarce feed with animals they cannot work, sell or butcher.
Read More: Public Land
Prairie Dog Daze
Cute is not a reason to go on living in the grander evolutionary scheme of things, but it must count for something. People love prairie dogs, even if they are next thing to a rat.
Michael Burns never expected to be walking around the plaza dressed in a big, fuzzy, buff-colored costume on the Saturday after Earth Day, hugging children and carrying a cardboard placard that said “Prairie dog family values.” The 36-year-old self-employed salesman who moved to Santa Fe from Portland, Ore. about four years ago, said he never thought much about prairie dogs until recently.
Read More: Daze