Stop killing the prairie dogs
- von: P Holmes
- empfänger: Boulder County Commissioners, Boulder, CO
The black-tailed prairie dogs are known for their advanced social behaviors, such as standing watch for each other and communicating with what Scientific America calls "the most sophisticated vocal language ever decoded." Prairie dogs even have a family recognition behavior that looks an awful lot like kissing. And you've got to see their contagious jump-yip
Prairie dogs are also keystone species, and healthy colonies and their burrows create important habitat for 150 other species - including rare wildlife like burrowing owls, and the critically endangered black-footed ferret. Prairie dog colonies also help aerate and fertilize the soil allowing for a greater diversity of plants to thrive.
Boulder County, Colorado has a prairie dog policy acknowledging the importance of this native species to the prairie ecosystem and states in the policy that “The goal of Boulder County is to preserve, protect, and enhance viable prairie dog populations on grassland habitat.”
So it is shocking to hear them admit to killing hundreds of colonies of prairie dogs these past two years, despite the 5300 acres they set aside for conservation. Very few prairie dogs were relocated to these lands. They claim that half of the 5300 acres do not have vegetation lush enough for the prairie dogs and it could take up to 10 years before the native grassland is restored, so their solution is to kill them. Boulder has killed over 3500 prairie dogs at taxpayer expense in the last year alone!
Boulder County’s best effort conservation is not good enough. With continual loss of native prairie dogs and their habitats to agriculture, recreational shooting, systematic poisoning and plague, the black-tailed prairie dogs are facing extinction. Hundreds of species that rely on them as a food source will face what conservation biologists described as an "ecological train wreck".
Boulder County needs to be held accountable for their reckless acts of killing and their denial of available habitat for this keystone species. Please join me and sign this petition to insist that Boulder County open up public land in order to live up to their policy to “preserve, protect, and enhance viable prairie dog populations on grassland habitat.”
Thanks so much for your support.
Dear Boulder County Commissioners,
Please consider our concern over the current refusal of your staff to follow your prairie dog policy "to preserve, protect, and enhance viable prairie dog populations on grassland habitat." We are asking that you discontinue prairie dog annihilation on public lands and begin to welcome prairie dogs on, at minimum, the 5300 acres you have set aside for their habitation. This past year over 3500 prairie dogs were killed at tax payer expense in Boulder on open space grassland while over 3000 acres sat empty that are specifically set aside as habitat for them. You state clearly in your prairie dog policy that the prairie dog is a "vitally important native species." We insist that your actions match your policy and that you "preserve, protect and enhance" this keystone species on open space public grasslands. Thank you.
Wenn Sie hier unterzeichnen, akzeptieren Sie die Nutzungsbedingungen von Care2
Sie können Ihre E-Mail-Abonnements jederzeit verwalten.
Sie haben Probleme, dies zu unterzeichnen? Informieren Sie uns.