We had better wake up and start demanding that actions be taken by our government to save this Keystone Species before it is too late. Today I witnessed the worst kind of sport. Shooting little priaire dogs by so called men with big guns. If they are a pest shoot them but not as a sport. Noting budgetary constraints and a heavy workload, the FWS instead passed the buck to the 11states within the black-tailed prairie dog's historic range, highlighting the ability of these states to improve the plight of the species.
Environmentalists note that the states have yet to act.
Other measures will take some time, but are absolutely necessary to recover the prairie dog ecosystem. The agencies have already shown these steps are possible. The U.S. Forest Service placed a moratorium last year on prairie dog poisoning on all Forest Service lands. And on February 4, a proposal was introduced in the Kansas legislature to repeal mandatory poisoning laws first enacted in 1903. They have gotten an incredibly bad rep from those who would keep the grasslands all to themselves for the purposes of cattle grazing.