Dedicated to the Preservation of Prairie Dogs and their Habitat
Prairie dogs have scored a victory in Fort Collins, or at least their advocates have.
The City Council on Tuesday gave initial approval to a set of changes to the city’s Land Use Code aimed at giving prairie dogs more protection from development than they have enjoyed during the last 20 years.
Read More: Fort Collins
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As Larimer County officials work to start construction on the new county building at First Street and Denver Avenue in Loveland, some residents are advocating that the prairie dogs on site be relocated first.
For months, the Larimer County commissioners and the Loveland City Council members have been receiving emails from prairie dog advocates asking that the animals on site be located to another area, rather than poisoned and killed.
While prairie dogs are not considered a protected species, advocates argued that relocation provides many benefits.
Read More: Relocation
Ranchers have known prairie dogs can reduce rangeland forage by as much as half, but prairie dogs may significantly increase the quality of forage that regrows, according to research by a University of Wyoming master’s degree student.
Read More at: Forage
The U.S. National Park Service has been celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2016.
Woodrow Wilson, America’s 28th president, established the National Park Service in 1916 to “protect the wild and wonderful landscapes” in the United States.
But it is an earlier leader who is considered the father of the America’s national parks. In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt, America’s 26th president, signed the American Antiquities Act. The law permitted him – and future presidents – to take immediate action to protect important cultural or natural resources.
This is an extremely timely article as B. Obama just designated two areas in Utah as parks and there are those in the government that would seek to reverse this decision. In fact some would like to PRIVATIZE our public lands! In the words of Mark Twain: Buy land, they’re not making it anymore. And perhaps he wouldn’t mind if I changed that to PROTECT our lands, they’re not making anymore.
Anyway it is a very nice article with great pictures including, of course, prairie dogs. So check out the article at: PARKS
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
Read more at: HSUS
No matter where you look on the grounds of the Plains Conservation Center, a black-tailed prairie dog will probably be looking back at you.
Read more: Pueblo Chieftain
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
Getting up before dawn never appealed to Penn State 
senior Elyse McMahon, but last summer it was exactly what she wanted to be doing. From June to August, her days began early with trapping and handling endangered Utah prairie dogs for data collection.
The wildlife and fisheries science major headed west to be part of a study to determine if a new type of bait containing a trial vaccine could help eliminate the sylvatic plague in prairie dogs. Students collected data that U.S. Geological Survey employees analyzed.
Read More: Student
Meet the prairie dog. These beautiful animals are true angels of God. They live in little villages and mind their 
own business. They do not destroy any crops and do not carry any diseases even though they are constantly blamed for spreading the plague. In reality, plague fleas (genus Oropsylla) can live on other animals such as squirrels, pack rats and other rodents and even breed in their burrows. When plague fleas get into prairie dog villages, they kill the prairie dogs. If you have a colony of prairie dogs near your home, they are healthy and do not have plague fleas. That is a myth perpetuated by people who do not know any better or who just want to kill them. They do not cripple horses and cattle as some other people claim. Most horses and cattle watch where they are walking and can easily go around a very visible prairie dog village. If a horse is ridden fast through an unknown area, an accident could happen. It is the responsibility of the horse owner to know where they are going on the horse. It isn’t the prairie dogs’ fault.
Read more: Bugman
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A law that gives Nebraska counties the power to manage black-tailed prairie dog populations was targeted for repeal Tuesday by the state’s longest-serving senator, a staunch animal rights activist.
State Sen. Ernie Chambers presented a repeal measure to a legislative committee, saying he would have fought to block the law had he been in the Legislature when it passed in 2012. Chambers was forced out of the Legislature due to term limits but returned to office last year.
Read more: Nebraska
CARLSBAD — Punxsutawney Phil has become an icon in the eastern half of the United States and has brought 
fame to the groundhog species with his annual shadow presentation. Traditionally, if the groundhog sees his shadow on Feb. 2, it means six more weeks of winter weather.
In the west, an organization has attempted to do the same for the prairie dogs but the animal has not been able to gain the same affection in New Mexico.
read more: Prairie Dog Day
CARLSBAD — With their little colony dwindling away — there were just three of the original residents left — the Prairie Dog Village at Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park was ready to receive the immigrants.
There are 24 of the new rodents, and they arrived here in October, said Holly Payne, head curator at the Living Desert.
Read More: Living Desert
The Chattanooga Zoo partnered with students and faculty in the UTC Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and College of Engineering to renovate the Zoo’s existing prairie dog exhibit.
The original prairie dog exhibit, home to five prairie dogs, was built in 1998. This exhibit is approximately 400 square feet in size and contains two chest-high observation windows. UTC Engineering students have redesigned the exhibit to incorporate a children’s viewing tunnel which will allows children to get eye level with their prairie dog counterparts through the creation of a viewing space within the actual exhibit.
Read More: Chattanooga
JEFFERSON COUNTY —The Ken-Caryl Ranch Master Association is exploring options for dealing with the prairie dog population near the community’s Manor House property.
The more than 40-acre space near the Manor House, 1 Manor House Road, has seen an increase in the prairie dog population and some residents are glad the master association is beginning to take action.
“The whole purpose of open space is to protect it. When prairie dogs take over and destroy it, it has the opposite effect,” resident Marian Miaskiewicz said. Miaskiewicz’s property backs up to the Manor House open space and she said that there are several prairie dog holes in her backyard. She also said that they attract other animals such as snakes.
Sometimes just trying to get along with a difficult neighbor can make us prisoners in our own homes. It can lead us 
to do things that go against our stated intentions and interests. That seems to be the situation right now for the Thunder Basin National Grassland, a 547,000-acre protected area in northeastern Wyoming.
The U.S. Forest Service, which manages the Grassland, has announced a plan to poison an estimated 16,000 prairie dogs and dramatically shrink the already limited area in which prairie dogs are tolerated. Thunder Basin officials intend to do it despite their declared plans to improve prairie dog habitat. Their method, moreover, is likely to kill a lot of other wildlife in the affected area and, incidentally, squander taxpayer dollars for nothing.
Read more at: Slaughter
The hot seat just got hotter for the rogue agency that’s responsible for the cruel and indiscriminate killing of millions of animals every year in the U.S., following a request for an investigation and congressional review made by two senators.
Wildlife Services (WS) began as Animal Damage Control, which started out killing pests and added predators to its list of targets in 1914. The agency has since expanded its services and has continued killing hundreds of thousands of native animals every year under the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Two-dozen Lubbock prairie dogs are now living in the Land of Enchantment.
The small ground-dwelling mammals have been relocated to Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park in Carlsbad, N.M.
Read more: Lubbock
Prairie dogs have their own version of a stadium wave, known as the “jump-yip,” which helps them connect with 
others and assess their alertness, new research finds.
Enjoy the video: Jump Yip
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s inspector general will investigate a federal agency whose mission is to exterminate birds, coyotes, mountain lions and other animals that threaten the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers.
The investigation of U.S. Wildlife Services is to determine, among other things, “whether wildlife damage management activities were justified and effective.” Biologists have questioned the agency’s effectiveness, arguing that indiscriminately killing more than 3 million birds and other wild animals every year is often counterproductive.
Read more: Wildlife
Conservation groups are criticizing a proposal to reduce the amount of land protected for prairie dogs in the Thunder Basin National Grassland.
The U.S. Forest Service is considering shrinking the acreage of protected land, largely because ranchers have concerns about livestock being injured in prairie dog holes and acquiring diseases.
But Steve Forrest with Defenders of Wildlife says reducing the prairie dog population could create problems for other wildlife. For example, he says it would hamper efforts to re-introduce endangered species like black-footed ferrets, because the ferrets almost exclusively eat prairie dogs.
Read More: WPM
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is announcing the availability of the black-footed ferret Revised Recovery Plan. The black-footed ferret was historically found throughout the Great Plains, mountain basins and semi-arid grasslands of North America wherever prairie dogs occurred. The species is listed as endangered under the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973.
The ferret’s close association with prairie dogs is an important factor in its decline. From the late 1800s to approximately the 1960s, conversion of native grasslands to cropland as well as poisoning and disease dramatically reduced prairie dog numbers. The ferret population declined as a result.
Read more: Cortez Journal
Conservation and animal welfare organizations have joined forces to submit written comments urging the U.S. Forest Service to consider an alternative plan to poison prairie dog colonies on Wyoming’s Thunder Basin National Grassland within ¼ mile of private or state land.
The Humane Society of the United States, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, WildEarth Guardians and others are leaders in this initiative that would save an estimated 16,000 prairie dogs.
In 2009, after years of planning and public input, officials set aside 85,000 acres in the Thunder Basin National Grassland as an area where prairie dogs would be protected from poisons and shooting. Today, this area contains the best prairie dog habitat on any National Grassland in America, but the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed plan would shrink this protected area by 22,000 acres.
Lindsey Sterling Krank, director of the Prairie Dog Coalition of The HSUS stated, “The Forest Service has to find a non-lethal and humane way to manage prairie dogs on Thunder Basin rather than spending taxpayer dollars on poison. The public and our nation’s wildlife deserve better.”
Read more: HSUS
The Humane Society of the United States have just released an ADORABLE new clip called “Cute & Playful Prairie Dogs,” in which these wonderful creatures can be seen scurrying around their lands, foraging for food, and saying hello to the camera!
Check it out at: PD Video
Dec. 4, 2013 — Mating with more than one male increases reproductive success for female prairie dogs, despite an increase in risks. This is according to a new study published in The Journal of Mammalogy by behavioral ecologist John Hoogland, Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Appalachian Laboratory.
Read More at: Mating
Or even more at: Science
American pioneers saw the endless stretches of grassland of the Great Plains as a place to produce grain and beef for a growing country. But one casualty was the native prairie ecosystem and animals that thrived only there.
Read more at: Ferret
The other day I was reading up on passenger pigeons and the 19th-century slaughter that rushed a population of billions of birds into extinction over a matter of decades. It reminded me that the same sort of mindless killing happens in the United States even now. It made me think in particular of an afternoon I spent years ago near Rapid City, S.D., with a group of shooters who sometimes jokingly referred to themselves as “the red mist society,” because that’s what a prairie dog turns into on impact with one of their high-powered bullets.
Read more at: Senseless “Sport”
Weems 2013 was a great success! The volunteers talked to many people on the merits of prairie dogs and we made over $1100 in sales and donations. Many thanks to all those who volunteered or who helped the prairie dogs by donating or purchasing merchandise. Remember Christmas is coming and time to stock up on prairie dog swag! Woo Hoo
The Clovis City Commission will meet 5:15 p.m. Thursday at the North Annex of the Clovis-Carver Public Library.
The agenda includes:
• A request to relocate prairie dogs on city land to Ector County, Texas, and use of water to help facilitate that animals’ removal from the ground.
Citizens for Prairie Dogs has twice sought city clearance to move the animals from Goodwin Lake, Ned Houk Park and O.G. Potter Park. The first time, Chaves County officials voiced opposition and the city commission voted the item down. The commission gave conditional approval to a move to Mitchell County, Texas, but Mitchell County officials made it clear the animals were not welcome there either.
BOULDER- The City of Boulder is relocating about 500 prairie dogs to nearby grasslands, because they are causing some damage to the Foothills Community Park.
The project comes up to about $66,000 to move all of the prairie dogs. That works out to just over $132 per animal.
Read more at: Boulder
With apologies to West Side Story….
I love to live in New Mexico
Everything’s shot in New Mexico
Guns are prizes in New Mexico
Nothing is safe in New Mexico
You can describe New Mexico in so many ways: big skies with mind-boggling sunsets, politically diverse, expansive, neighborly, God fearing, home of tourist attractions from national parks to soaring balloons, rough-hewn cowboys pulling up a bar chair next to Santa Fe sophisticates.
I would also call it unimaginative. 
Our gun contests are boring. Let me make it clear up front. While there is a chance, if pressed, I might come down on the side of those who find such contests ill advised, my purpose here is not to argue the point.
Read more at: Portales News-Tribune
The Prairie Dog Coalition, a program of The Humane Society of the United States, will honor those who have helped protect prairie dogs at the 9th annual “Living on Burrowed Time IX” gala on Oct. 26. This year’s event will celebrate and honor special guest Con Slobodchikoff, Ph. D. as Prairie Dog Protector of the Year.
Slobodchikoff, Ph. D., professor emeritus at Northern Arizona University, director of the Animal Language Institute, and president and CEO of Animal Communications, Ltd. Slobodchikoff is a world-renowned animal behaviorist who has been studying prairie dog communication for more than 30 years. Last year, he was featured on BBC and NPR for his research on animal communication and published Chasing Dr. Doolittle: Learning the Language of Animals.
Read more at: PDC honors C. Slobodchikoff
Employees at businesses neighboring an exterminated prairie dog village have become protective of a lone survivor. 
Parker residents continue to talk about the apparent gassing of the now-barren colony, which encompassed at least half a dozen properties on the northeast corner of Mainstreet and Twenty Mile Road. There are no development plans for the land, a point that has some questioning why the extermination took place.
As grievances with prairie dogs continue to grow throughout the West and colonies are being demolished, someone needs to be a strong voice for these tiny creatures. The Prairie Dog Coalition is dedicated to the protection of imperiled prairie dogs and restoration of their ecosystems.
A fortunate few have seen prairie dogs as they nibble on grass, run between burrows, touch noses and kiss. And it’s heartbreaking to know one day their presence may be gone. Survival of the prairie dog is critical to the continued existence of the prairie ecosystem–one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world.
Nine different wildlife species depend on prairie dog populations and their habitat for their survival. Endangered black-footed ferrets, owls, hawks, foxes and about 200 other species are associated with prairie dogs and their habitat. By planning ahead and working prairie dogs into open space plans, we can help direct their path of migration to the best habitats for them. By setting aside conservation areas for this native, keystone animal we can enjoy the prairie dogs and their associated species in our natural environment.
Prairie dogs now occupy just 2 percent to 8 percent of their historic range, and without serious conservation efforts, they may soon disappear. We have a responsibility to do everything we can to help the prairie dog ecosystem recover so that future generations can enjoy healthy wildlife populations, too.
Training volunteers and professional wildlife biologists on the latest nonlethal techniques to manage prairie dog populations humanely is a good first step to help protect these animals and restore their ecosystems. To ensure the protection of prairie dogs and their ecosystem, we must work together. The Prairie Dog Coalition, managed by The Humane Society of the United States, is working to fulfill this mission by providing information and advocacy training, facilitating communication and planning, and promoting conservation projects.
Ultimately, a conscious concern for these animals is necessary for retaining the beauty and majestic nature that is the prairie dog and the North American grasslands. Help us put an end to their demise and invigorate the prairie ecosystem once again.
Lindsey Sterling-Krank, director of The Prairie Dog Coalition/Boulder
Prairie dogs are known as a “keystone species.” Over 160 vertebrates alone are associated with large prairie dog colonies and over 80 on “urban” colonies. Possibly the world’s most endangered animal, the Black-footed Ferret, cannot live without prairie dogs. Some other federally protected species are nearly as dependent including the Ferruginous Hawk, the Burrowing Owl, the Swift Fox and the Mountain Plover. Biologists have termed them “perhaps the most important mammal on earth.”Prairie dogs are important to their environment in three ways:
For more facts, visit 101 Questions and Answers about Prairie Dogs and Environmental Change and the Prairie Dog
Populations: The Ultimate Underdog
Gunnison’s Prairie Dogs are a White-tailed subspecies, which inhabits the four corners region. Once ubiquitous, current estimates place their populations at about 2 – 5% of their former range.
Two of the five species of prairie dogs are protected under the Endangered Species Act. There may be fewer Utah Prairie Dogs than Siberian Tigers. Black-tailed Prairie Dogs, the most numerous due their large range, are considered a Candidate for Threatened Listing. They meet all criteria for listing, but the Fish and Wildlife Service does not yet have the resources to enforce the listing, so they were placed on the Candidate List in 2000. They are on about 1% of their former range.
Ecological Importance: A ‘keystone species.’
Prairie dogs are a ‘keystone species,’ or most important element, of their environment.
Up to 160 other species benefit from their presence.
They enrich their environment in three ways:
The Black-footed Ferret is the most endangered mammal on our continent and cannot live without prairie dogs under any circumstances.
The Ferruginous Hawk, Swift Fox, Mountain Plover, and Burrowing Owl, are considered for or federally protected species that are considered dependent on prairie dogs. Several other species are considered dependent on prairie dogs. Several other species are considered dependent.
It’s a Dog’s Life: a Brief Description of the Prairie Dogs, Themselves
Prairie dogs possess, perhaps, the most complex language of any animal ever studied. Even more so than primates. They have over fifty primary ‘words’ and can communicate in sentences, distinguish color, speed, and level of threat through language.
Prairie dogs live in family units called ‘coteries’. They often ‘kiss’ in a familial identification. The animals commonly seen poised on their hindquarters are sentries, ever vigilant on the lookout for danger to themselves and families.
Prairie dogs are annual breeders. Fifty percent of females over two years of age will give birth to about 4 pups in the spring. There is tremendous juvenile mortality.
Prairie dogs live to be about five years old in the wild.
Burrows are complex, with separate ‘rooms’ for each function of life. Toilet chambers, sleeping quarters and storage typify a home burrow. Often, listening posts are created near the entrance for added protection. Some burrows have several entrances.
Gunnison’s and White-tailed Prairie Dogs hibernate, or go into torpor, as it is called, from about November through February. Black-tailed Prairie Dogs do not hibernate.
In a recent article on prairie dogs, it is mentioned that their main purpose in the world is to feed other plains animals, provide homes for owls and plague the herds, fields and wallets of ranchers and farmers. While all of these functions are legitimate, it did not mention the main importance of prairie dogs.
Prairie dogs dig their burrows, sometimes 50 holes an acre, all across the plains. These burrows go down several feet, letting rain water flow directly to roots of the grass. It also allows water to replenish the water table and underground aquifers. Now that water levels are dropping and Western cities are growing nervous, prairie dogs will need to have large numbers to balance human water use by replenishing our ground water systems and underground aquifers.