Prairie dogs sucked up by vacuum (That's ONE way to get rid of 'em...)

AZCentral.com / Arizona Republic ^ | 9.28.03 | David Kelly

[LTCJ]

"We have 10,000 to 15,000 acres of prairie dogs in our county now. We had 800 acres in 1998."

I was last in Boulder in 1992 and there were PD holes right outside the hotel all over the slopes of the interstate on/off ramps. It wasn't hard to tell there was a problem brewing, if not out of control, back then.

Of course, by now I'm sure each and every one of the little darlin's has been registered to vote in the Democratic primary.

[fire_eye]

A built-in, self contained ignition system then ignites the mixture, creating an underground shockwave or concussion that instantly kills the rodent

Hmmm... "A built-in, self-contained ignition system then ignites the powder charge, creating internal pressures of thousands of PSI which propels the projectile forward into the rodent, creating an internal shockwave or concussion that instantly kills the rodent..."

I would like one of those vacuum systems, though, yupscaled to be able to vacuum yuppie "Progressives" out of schools, coffeehouses, and media outlets (don't ask what I'd do with them once I'd gotten them in the truck...).

Well, maybe not the coffeehouses... I've heard those are "Progressive" game refuges...

[RJS1950]

As to where he releases the vermin, I propose that he drive each tankload down to Mexico and blow them all out of the tank into mex. Give them back a small fraction of the problem they allow to invade our country. Better yet, go around and suck up the illegals into the tank and then blow them back across the border.

[prairiebreeze]

Common sense tells you that there are no easy ways to get a prairie dog out of its hole."

Never try to impress common sense onto animal activists.

Prairie dogs often co-habitate in their holes with other critters. Namely rattlesnakes. And rattlers kill livestock and don't do much for children, or property values either. As far as I'm concerned, if you've got prairie dogs, you've got a far bigger problem.

Prairie

[capt. norm]

Just what I was going to ask.

Prairie dog fishing is about as much fun as you can find on a nice fall weekend in Colorado.

It has to be tried to be appreciated.

It would be even more fun (major league) if PETA would just come out and make a big stink about it.

[RoughDobermann]

I was last in Boulder in 1992 and there were PD holes right outside the hotel all over the slopes of the interstate on/off ramps. It wasn't hard to tell there was a problem brewing, if not out of control, back then

You should see it now...

[Willie Green]

I wonder... does this guy have the only "varmint vacuum" truck? I could swear that I've read about this operation before - except the prairie dogs were simply relocated, not caged in someone's garage.

I found a pic:

[Dog Gone]

I've been outed!!!

[Ryle]

Here's what one creative Alberta community did when they had a few too many gophers/prairie dogs:

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/places/gopher.htm

The Torrington Gopher Hole Museum has several dozen of the critters - all stuffed and set up in dioramas - there's a Royal Canadian Mounted Gopher, Reverend Gopher, gophersmith, etc.

And the ones that are missed by the taxidermy brigade - well, our teenager seems to be the only person in his class at school that's ever used them as targets (yet another of the problems with schools today LOL), but he's invited back year after year to a couple of area ranches to practice with his .22 and make a bit of a dent in the population of the varmints.

[Charles Martel]

Wow, a steel catch tank. Those burrowing rodents must be tougher than I figured. ;-)

Reading through the story again, a few things don't quite add up. For example, the guy and his wife were supposedly on the front steps of the bankruptcy courthouse when he was inspired by a dream to go forth and build that off-road Shop Vac.

I'm not quite sure how vacuum boy turns a profit; indeed, the article makes it sound like he's rounding up the rodents on his own initiative. Are ranchers paying him for this whistle pig abatement program?

Then there's the air-conditioned garage filled with caged prairie dogs. Add up the electricity for the A/C, the Purina Prairie Dog Chow and all other related expenses, and this sounds more and more like an operation financed by some anti-hunting organization.

Perhaps I'm way off base... maybe he's secretly selling their little pelts to some furrier in Eastern Europe and sending the rest to a dog food processing plant. Waste not, want not!

[magslinger]

YOU tell HIM that!

[kitchen]

The Black footed ferret only exists in small numbers in captivity...

Baloney! I have personally seen more in the wild than the feds claim exist. This is a perfect example of what happens when landowners don't trust their government and the government is free to concoct stories to rationalize their latest taxpayer funded money drain. No one in their right mind would respond to the BLM reward poster and consequently surrender their ranch to the feds.

Not told here is the final chapter. After collection - supposedly for relocation - the healthiest are killed, inspected for bubonic plague and other diseases, and, if passed, quick frozen, and shipped to federal ferret projects for feed.