The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-03-04
PRAIRIE DOG EXPERIMENTATION

Ifyou want to see a prairie dog town
yaa'll have to hurry, The Govern
rent biological survey, Western State
agricultural departments, forest rang
ers, stockmen, farmers and homestead
ers are OUT on the firing line and ths
prairie dog, last o. the old denizens
Of tho great plains, gives way before
them. The plew tears through the
streets Of the cities of prairie dogdcm,
irrigation waters pour down their
homes and in the lean and hungry
springtime when Mr.. and Mrs. Prairie
Dog crawl out from their winters
rest, poisoned wheat and aifafa so
dear to their hearts await them at
their doorsiIls.
Time was not long ago, when thou
sands Of these dog towns or cities as
they really were, existed all through
Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, the Da-
kotas and the Rocky Mountain States.
10 the cattle and sheep men the mil
lions Of creatures which inhabited
them were far greater menanee than
wolves. mountain lions, coyotes and all
other predatory creatures combined.
They swept the range of the vegeta-
ton more disastrously than prairie
fire, On devastating one area they
pulled up stakes and moved on to a
new town,
Some years ago tract Of hundreds
OF thousand of acres in western Kanz
sas swarmed with them. The State
became interested, manufactured poi
son by the barrel and sent it out to
the interested region. Wheat dipped
in the poisonous mixture was scat
tered over the region with excellent
results. The biological survey, farm
ers and cattlemep have followed the
precedent set by Kansas since and
for a number of years have been aIls
nuaI1y poisoning them in great mum.
bers. In the National Forest where
cattle and sheep are ranged an i'm.
portant work Of the forest service is
the poisoning OF prairie dogs.
A funny thing happened in North Da-
kota. An enteFprising legislator at one
time introduced q bin providing that
the different counties pay q bounty
for prairie dogs. The measure be-
came law, NO sooner was It in
force than the peits Of the dogs began
pouring into the county offices ln such
enormous numbers that the county
treasures were threatened with bank
Tuptcy and in haste the law was re-
pealed
The prairie dog is bold, saucy fell
low. Els most interesting occupation
is that Of sitting on top Of his buFrow
barking necessarily. Tipping bis funny
little tail with each zap. Walk along
| BY a town and dog or two or three
Will be seen sitting on almost every
burrow. They win stay there and
bark at you In denant Unison until you
approach quite close. They are on
the watch, however. and II you move
your arm as though in the act OF
throwing something. in flash they
turn and vanish into their holes.
Attempt to shoot them and they will
nearly always duck too soon or il they
are hit viii fall back into the burrow
leaving the hunter undecided whether
he hit or not The burrows Il ia be
\ neved are often connected by under
greund runways. The oft told story
that rettIesnakes and burrowing owls
make their homes with prairie dogs
is not a myth but fact SO say ths
pIainmen. That the relationship b
friendly is not wen substantiated- Il
is prObabif the truth that the snakes
and owls ind the ready made homes
in which to sleep away the winter +
I their liking and that IN return FOR ms
4 hospitality Of the prairie dog are moi
averse to dining of the puppies nov
and them.