Prairie dogs escape predatory status

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2004
Messages
225
Location
Oshkosh, WI
Prairie dogs escape predatory status
By KATHLEEN MILLER
Associated Press writerPra

CHEYENNE -- Prairie dogs dug their way out of being classified as predatory animals by the House Agriculture Committee Thursday.

The committee approved a measure that would make it a crime to dump prairie dogs onto property without the consent of the landowner, but stripped the bill of language that would reclassify the prairie dog as a "predatory animal."

"Believe it or not, this was the number one issue when I was running for office," said Rep. Matt Teeters, R-Lingle, who sponsored the legislation.

Rep. Amy Edmonds, R-Cheyenne, agreed with Teeters. "In my district, they are just out of control," Edmonds said. "We're losing the battle."

Teeters said he wanted prairie dogs to join coyotes, raccoons, skunks and stray cats in the predatory animal classification to take them out of any "management scheme." Prairie dogs currently are classified as pests by the state.

Wyoming Department of Agriculture Director John Etchepare said the state agriculture board was not in favor of the reclassification. "It is the feeling of the board that this could raise a red flag and hasten the speed with which efforts are made to get the prairie dog listed" as endangered or threatened species, he said.

Sierra Club lobbyist Adam Rissien agreed. He said if the prairie dog was classified as a predatory animal, it would mean the state would no longer be able to say it was managing the species through regulatory mechanisms. Rissien said his organization would seize the opportunity to gain endangered species status for prairie dogs.

"It would help us petition the U.S. Fish and Wildlife for listing the species under the Endangered Species Act," Rissien said.

Rissien's testimony led Teeters and the committee to strike the portions of the bill that would reclassify the prairie dog as predatory. "What Mr. Rissien said raised the hackles on the back of my neck," Teeters said.

The committee voted 8-1 to pass the bill -- without the language that would have classified prairie dogs as predators, but including language that would make it a misdemeanor to relocate prairie dogs into or within Wyoming without the consent of the landowner and all adjoining landowners within one mile of the relocation site.

The bill now moves to the House floor for consideration.

Prairie dogs face still face another threat in Wyoming: the annual "There Goes the Neighborhood" prairie dog killing contest on public lands around Medicine Bow in Carbon County.
 
We had a little different tactic used on a lot of the Buffalo Gap Nat'l Grassland,and it wasnt even the Sierra dips that used it,....it was our own government! In thier infinate wisdom they decided it was in our best interest to reintroduce an endangered species in the Badlands Nat'l Park,so in came the Black Footed Ferret.Shortly afterwards all the grasslands around the Badlands Park was closed to prairie rat shooting for fear of a ferret getting zapped.So for the past 10+ years the dogs have had free rein,no shooting,no poison,no management of any kind.All this public land,our land,closed off and being ruined over a damned rodent.All we can hope is one day the project will be given up or the ferret declassified.If it ever does this area will be a p'dog hunters dream come true. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
so in came the Black Footed Ferret

[/ QUOTE ]

Glad to know that the little critter is still hanging in there. I fought two power companies, a coal company and the Federal gov't trying to save him and two endangered fish long ago in the Four Corners area. I lost the fight and they sucked the river dry of water.

If hunters' had a better reputation as "conservationists" instead of "kill them all and let God sort them out" you would not see such draconian measures to protect the ferret and other species.

I am not inclined to argue with you over the subject but I simply point out my view of the world. I will be passing through your neck of the woods in early September and would be happy to stop for a day and shoot prairie dogs with you. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
To tell you the truth BB, after 10+ yrs,I dont think they even know for sure if there are any left alive or not.A few years after being introduced some kind of distemper was killing them off.A couple years ago they reopened hunting the p'dogs on private land that surrounds the area,which is kind of an indication the project is dead ending.Even so,it would more or less take an act of congress to open the public land back up.Talking to some of the Park personell and ranchers in the area,they pretty much agreed that the project was doomed from the start just becuase of the sheer number of ferrets that would be needed to make the reintroduction feasable to start with.Along with distemper and other diseases the ferrets are suseptable to,they are also endangered from many of the diseases the praire dogs are.Just south of this area on the Pine Ridge Indian Res. the p'dog population was decimated by the plague the past couple years.Driving south of the Cheyenne River on BIA #41 on to the reservation,all the way to Ogalala,its strange to see the thousands of p'dog holes and maybe one or two dogs in that 65 mile stretch.The good thing is that it seems the river stopped the plague from coming any farther north.
JMO,but I believe that the ferrets future is written on the wall,as it would take a much larger piece of real estate than is available here to make such a project feasable.
In the case of this project,the resentment towards government to introduce this project,taking away land owners rights to manage thier own property (having it destroyed) and interfereing with thier livelyhood,runs deep.

All that being said,Id love to spend a day shooting with you BB.Hopefully I can get my 6mm project to Kirby here pretty quick to have it done in time.It gets kind of expensive launching 210 VLDs at them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
This PD/Ferret controversy is just a political football. If the truth be known the plaque comes in little pellets of cyanide dropped from crop dusters. How else can you explain why PDs are gone on National Grasslands but still survive on the private lands surrounding them.
 
Sam,Im not sure how they poison the p'dogs in WI,but its not done from airplanes here,and no, plague does not come from the pellets used to control the p'dogs.There are several forms of plague p'dogs contract the most devistating of which is bubonic plague,which is contracted from the bite of a flea,as are most others.
 
That is sad about the distemper. Mother Nature is a harsh lady and shows little mercy on a species once their numbers get low.
 
squaw fish , bob ?
shoulda just let em die off, the san juan trout fishing is doing just fine without em..
i've never seen one, and frankly, could care less if i ever did.

i'm not advocating killing everything, let god sort them out thing..
but, let's just get real, sometimes, there's just things that need to be left alone or left alone to just go away, cause they're just not worth fighting over..
squaw fish, ferrets, these are 2 that should have just been left alone, and let the ecosystem get along just the way it was before trying to save em. shooting and fishing..

where did you live back then ? fourcorners area ? i'm in aztec.

or are you still living around here ? i see your profile,,,,
well, if your ever out this way again, stop in and we'll go fishing or rat shooting.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Sam,Im not sure how they poison the p'dogs in WI,but its not done from airplanes here,and no, plague does not come from the pellets used to control the p'dogs.There are several forms of plague p'dogs contract the most devistating of which is bubonic plague,which is contracted from the bite of a flea,as are most others.

[/ QUOTE ]
We don't have any PDs in WI, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif They have been feeding you that line about plaque for years. I can take you to places (Natl. Grasslands) in WY where they say the plaque got the dogs but cross the line fence on private land the dogs run wild. So you are telling me that flea doesn't cross line fences in WY. You should do a little research on how they are poisoning dogs with airplanes.
 
[ QUOTE ]
let god sort them out thing

[/ QUOTE ]

I would have been happy to let God sort it out; however, the power companies, coal company and Bureau of Rec wanted to sort it on God's behalf and I didn't see any evidence of God communicating his wishes to them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I was in Salt Lake City from 1975 through 1980. I got lucky and drew out a buffalo tag in the Henry Mountains in 1980. Hence the name "Buffalobob".
 
I never heard of anybody using air planes so I would like to hear about what you know. On our place in Texas we have experienced the effects of the plague but it seems short lived due the p-dogs ability to repopulate very quickly.
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Sam,Im not sure how they poison the p'dogs in WI,but its not done from airplanes here,and no, plague does not come from the pellets used to control the p'dogs.There are several forms of plague p'dogs contract the most devistating of which is bubonic plague,which is contracted from the bite of a flea,as are most others.

[/ QUOTE ]
We don't have any PDs in WI, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif They have been feeding you that line about plaque for years. I can take you to places (Natl. Grasslands) in WY where they say the plaque got the dogs but cross the line fence on private land the dogs run wild. So you are telling me that flea doesn't cross line fences in WY. You should do a little research on how they are poisoning dogs with airplanes.

[/ QUOTE ]

I cant honestly claim to know how they manage the dogs in WY.I do know here the pellets are stuffed down the holes because they are just as deadly to to other species as they are the p'dogs.The p'dogs eat it,get sick,crawl back in thier holes and its the end.In this way birds of prey and other animals (except snakes maybe) arent feeding on the poisoned carcasses.Its not my wish to argue with you about plague mortality rates in p'dog colonies,but I do know for a fact that the Pine Ridge Indian Res. (along with the Rosebud) has no p'dog management (probably mainly because the the tribal budget isnt big enough to allow it) on tribal land other than hunting and that the population south of Red Shirt Table was wiped out by the plague.
I cant begin to understand why WY would poison by airplane as it would affect many other species,I would think.
 
In the Northwest, Squawfish has been changed to the politically correct, "Northern Pike Minnow", and there's a substantial bounty on them in the Columbia River in Oregon and Washington.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 18 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Recent Posts

Top