Five years later, however, the rodents had increased again. The federal government redoubled its efforts to exterminate the animals. When an epidemic disease reduced the animals in the 1930s, poisoning efforts were reduced but not eliminated. These government poisoning campaigns contributed significantly to the Utah prairie dog's decline. In 1983, despite the animal's status as an endangered species, illegal poisoning continued to wipe out Utah prairie dog colonies.
Illegal poisoning continues today, killing thousands of all species of prairie dogs annually.
While exact numbers are not known, millions of prairie dogs have died throughout the West in misguided efforts to make the plains safe for livestock. In addition, Utah prairie dogs suffered habitat loss due to long-term cattle overgrazing, which reduced critical grasses upon which the species depends and permitted shrub forage to grow in its place. Overgrazing also caused prime Utah prairie dog habitat to erode, converting raised ground into gullies and altering the water table, which, in turn, reduced the quality and availability of grasses and forbs. By controlling natural fires, agriculturalists also inadvertently allowed woody vegetation to outcompete native grasses which were the Utah prairie dog's food source. Utah prairie dogs have been additionally limited by geographic factors and climate.