Prairie Dogs Don't Have Much of a Prairie Anymore

In the late 1800s, five billion prairie dogs lived on 600,000 square miles of land stretching from Canada to Mexico, and from the Rockies to Nebraska. Now they are absent from the Great Plains because of poisoning, habitat fragmentation, and sylvatic plague (a rodent variety of plague imported by Asian sailors in the 19th century). In 1902, C.H. Merriam, chief of the National Biological Survey, declared that prairie dogs robbed cattle of 75% of their forage by overgrazing. Based on this erroneous information, our government, dominated by ranching and farming interests, began an enthusiastic extermination campaign that employed up to 125,000 workers a year in the 1920s. It was so effective that by 1938, the common black-tailed prairie dog was completely wiped out in Arizona. In Texas, a huge colony of 400 million prairie dogs measuring 250 by 100 miles was destroyed. In Colorado, 91% of their habitat was expunged. By the turn of the 21^st century, only 1% of its original population was left of the black-tailed prairie dog, which used to be the most widespread of the five species.

The five species of prairie dogs are black-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah, white-tailed, and Mexican. Of those, the Utah prairie dog is officially listed as threatened, the Mexican prairie dog as endangered, and the black-tailed prairie dog was taken off the threatened species list but needs to be returned. Today only 2,701,000 acres of prairie dog habitat remain in all of North America in small, isolated pockets on the prairie and at the edges of western population centers. Added to this reduced habitat is the fact that prairie dogs practice infanticide when they have no room to expand their colonies. And their low breeding rate (once a year), which produces only three or four pups, does nothing to improve their serious plight.

The prairie dog is known as a keystone species, which means that many other species of plants and animals depend on its presence for their own survival. It changes the soil and vegetation to create habitat for them all. At least 150 vertebrate species benefit from the work of the prairie dog. It is the favored prey for ferruginous hawks and golden eagles, as well as coyotes, foxes, weasels, and badgers. Prairie dog burrows serve as homes for a number of animals like the burrowing owl, which also hunts small animals in the cropped grasses of their colonies. The mountain plover successfully hunts insects in these grasses, and nests on the ground among their burrows. Deer mice, cottontails, ground squirrels, rabbits, voles, prairie rattlers, bull snakes, and tiger salamanders all find it convenient to make their homes in and around prairie dog towns. The prairie dog constitutes 90% of the diet of the black-footed ferret, which lives in prairie dog burrows and is now, not surprisingly, the most endangered mammal in North America. Large ungulates like buffalo, elk, pronghorn, and mule deer eat the vegetation around prairie dog colonies.

The foraging of cattle and livestock attracts prairie dogs, who actually repair their overgrazing. Ranchers (aided and abetted by C.H. Merriam back in 1902) have mistaken the overgrazing of their cattle for destruction on the part of prairie dogs because of their practice of moving into overgrazed areas, attracted by the short vegetation. Prairie dogs are beneficial to ranchers. Their digging, urinating, and defecating enriches and fertilizes the soil; their burrows channel precipitation to the water table; and their digging and clipping improve aeration for the soil and plants. The nutrient quality of the vegetation is even increased. And contrary to popular myth, cattle do not break their legs by stepping into prairie dog burrows.

Another untruth about prairie dogs is that they spread plague. In reality, they have no immunity to the disease, and an entire colony can die of plague within days. Urban prairie dogs are rarely infected by plague, which is carried by fleas and spread by animals other than prairie dogs. Human plague contracted from prairie dogs is extremely rare, but if it occurs, it's treatable with antibiotics. The Center for Disease Control and the Department of Health concur that plague is not a valid reason to destroy prairie dog colonies. Flea powder sprinkled in burrows is effective as a plague deterrent. Prairie dogs also do not spread diseases like Hantavirus and rabies.

Prairie dogs, who live in large, extended families called coteries, are among the world's best animal communicators, with one of the most sophisticated languages in the nonhuman world. Their yips and cries (from which they got the name "dog," although they are actually rodents) represent complex statements containing information they want to impart to each other: like the differences between the colors of clothes worn by passersby, or whether a human carrying a weapon had one on a previous visit.

The prairie dog continues to be imperiled because of rampant urban development and a failing, desperate ranching industry eager to find a scapegoat for its self-created problems. The Wildlife Services Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been providing poison to private interests to eradicate prairie dogs for decades. Because of the intolerance of ranchers to all native wildlife, prairie dogs are found on less than 1% of suitable habitat of the National Grasslands managed by the Forest Service, and it's the same story for the land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Local and state agencies in the eleven states where prairie dogs are still found have historically also encouraged their killing.

How are they killed? One method is with the nasty, slow-acting poison called aluminum phosphide gas. Tablets or cartridges are dropped into burrows along with crumpled newspapers and compacted dirt to seal the hole. Prairie dogs suffer for hours or even days before dying horribly by implosion; their circulatory systems burst so that they literally drown in their own blood.

A particularly sadistic method of eliminating prairie dogs is by blowing them away at private "recreational" shooting contests, where shooters sit at tables near or within a colony and aim high-powered rifles at the animals as they emerge from their burrows. These "sportsmen" don't like to waste their bullets, so if they just injure a prairie dog, they consider it entertaining to watch him die slowly rather than waste another bullet. The National Rifle Association calls this cruel, bizarre event "varmint-hunting." Shooters have their own charming terminology for the various maneuvers they perform. A "triple" is one bullet that hits three dogs on a mound who are hugging each other in fear. In the "flipper," the force of the shot flips the animal backward. A "red mist" refers to the explosion of a prairie dog from a direct hit. This "sport" is accompanied by cheers from onlookers and participants, and, of course, prizes for the best shots.

Prairie dog conservation groups are now working to create ecosystem preservation on private land. This cannot be accomplished in urban areas because of the large consumer demand for land and high prices, but it can be done in rural, depopulated areas of the Great Plains. In towns and cities, prairie dogs who find themselves in the direct path of the bulldozers of development can be rescued and relocated. Humane containment methods have helped people and prairie dogs successfully cohabit in western cities such as Lakewood, Colorado, where they are protected in open space areas. The city of Santa Fe passed an ordinance in 2001 requiring developers to relocate prairie dog colonies on their property. Recently over 300 prairie dogs were removed from a city park in family groups via humane flushing and live trapping methods and relocated to the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico. They are now thriving there.

Amazingly, as much as two-thirds of the prairie dog population of Conata Basin in South Dakota is scheduled to be destroyed by the U.S. Forest Service in the fall of 2007, which would also adversely affect the species dependent upon it, such as the black-footed ferret. How can you help the prairie dog survive? Write to your elected representatives about cutting the funding for Wildlife Services, which does nothing but serve as a killing machine for rapidly disappearing native species. If you live in prairie dog areas, make it clear to your state wildlife and agriculture departments that you want them to protect prairie dogs and other wildlife, not help destroy them.