Open season on "varmints": for saving endangered prairie dogs, it's the eleventh hour

E: The Environmental Magazine, July-August, 2004 by Jim Motavalli, Fred Durso, Jr.

Prairie dog support groups are trying to relocate whole colonies of the animals to get them away from hunters and out of the path of development, but it's a slow process. "We're in the eleventh hour for the prairie dog," says David Crawford, executive director of Rocky Mountain Animal Defense. "ESA listings are crucial, but getting the black-tailed listed is still a long way off." USFWS determined in 2000 that listing the black-tailed prairie dog was "warranted," but has taken no further action. Meanwhile, according to Lindsey Sterling of the Prairie Dog Coalition, despite its ESA candidate status "thousands of black-tailed deaths have occurred as a result of government approved and often taxpayer-subsidized shooting, poisoning and bulldozing."

Under President Bush, species listing has ground to a halt, for prairie dogs and many other animals. An analysis by the Center for Biological Diversity says that the Bush administration has failed to list a single species under the act, except when under court order to do so. Some 65 species were listed under Clinton and 58 under Bush's father. Even under President Reagan, 32 species were listed. Defenders of Wildlife sees "a clear pattern of illegal acts, rigged science and flagrant disregard of court orders" in the Bush administration's ESA policy. Meanwhile, Republican House Resources Committee Chairperson Richard Pombo (R-CA) praises Bush for "modernizing" the ESA.

In the Web of Life

As the coalition fighting for prairie dogs points out, black-footed ferrets depend on the social rodents for food and on their burrows for shelter (see sidebar). Prairie dogs also provide food for the swift fox, the coyote, weasels, snakes, badgers, hawks and golden eagles as well as crucial habitat for many other native plants and animals.

Are prairie dogs really "varmints" that are best removed from the environment? According to the book Wild Neighbors, published by the Humane Society of the U.S., "recent studies suggest that we have overlooked the critical role [prairie dog and ground squirrel populations] may play in encouraging biological diversity, and have overestimated the impact they have on our own economic interests."

Back to www.masterhunters.com: "Regardless of what gun you choose, prairie dogs offer a fun opportunity for popping some caps well outside of the restraint and conformity of a firing range ... 'Early in the year is a good time to hunt," says Tim Byer, a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Forest Service. 'Because prairie dog pups are up, and they are less educated and easier shooting.'"

So what's so bad about these "pests"? Ranchers say they eat animal forage and endanger the legs of livestock with their tunnels. Erin Robertson, a CNE staff biologist, says antipathy to prairie dogs increased during World War I, when the push was on to increase beef production. "It was your patriotic duty to eradicate prairie dogs from your property," she says. "There was a massive government effort that lasted until the 1930s."