Posted on 09/07/2006 6:38:35 AM PDT by Theodore R.
As city expands into their space, prairie dogs find backyard homes Meet the Neighbors
BY ROBIN BRISCOE AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
A prairie dog peeks his head from his home while hundreds of his friends and family are cozy within a dirt mound below the earth.
"We have got hundreds of them right now," Jim Gerlt, executive pastor at Bacon Heights Baptist Church, said, referring to the prairie dog town spanning 33 acres on the land reserved for the church's new building at 110th Street and Slide Road.
"Any time you buy land you're going to have prairie dogs," Gerlt said. "That's just normal."
While landowners routinely have to deal with the critters, more and more residents have also been encountering them in their own yards.
However, experts believe there's not actually a higher number of them. There just may be more of them on residential property.
Building in South Lubbock is blurring the line between prairie dog town and people town.
"Where do they go?" asked wildlife biologist Rob Lee. The Llano Estacado Audubon Society member and former federal game warden said the growth in the southern part of the city has caused many prairie dogs, as well as jackrabbits, to run toward the city.
"Town is moving into their space," Lee said, pointing to critters running along from one mound to another. "Those that are dispersed are moving into our space."
About 150 active prairie dog mounds span a five-acre field at Slide Road and 114th Street, with new homes lining the background less than a mile away.
But like many prairie dog dwellings on the outskirts, the homey haven is only temporary. The field has a sign at the corner, indicating upcoming construction.
Some of the animals are killed at construction zones. Some are relocated, like the ones at Bacon Heights' new location. The prairie dogs there are scheduled to be removed next summer before building kicks off. And some disperse into surrounding neighborhoods, Lee said, adding that this may be the reason people are seeing more of the creatures.
He said he has received several calls from residents in South Lubbock who have prairie dog holes in their yards.
Once the animals invade human space, they are usually either poisoned by an angry owner or relocated by a local nonprofit organization.
Some pest extermination businesses will take care of the critters.
They breed once a year.
Average litter is about six pups.
Source: Citizens for Prairie Dogs, a nonprofit organization
Citizens for Prairie Dogs President Joann Haddock said she has received about 60 calls this summer from people wanting the rodents removed from their property, adding that many of those calls have come from South Lubbock.
"It's a big problem," she said. "There's really no more prairie dogs. ... It's just the development."
Haddock said that while many who find themselves with prairie dog neighbors are angry, most don't want them killed, just gone from their property.
An empty lot here, a backyard there - prairie dogs aren't picky creatures, only in need of some open space and nearby dinner, usually meals of vegetation, including grass and forbs, which are broad-leaf plants also known as weeds, Lee said.
Some may wonder if prairie dogs are just multiplying within the city, especially since experts can't estimate how many of the creatures call the area home.
Haddock doesn't believe this to be the case. She said prairie dogs only breed once a year and in the Lubbock area, they usually have a litter of six pups.
"The city is just getting bigger fast," she said. "There's tons of pockets of them."
She said her organization has relocated about 3,000 prairie dogs since its inception in 2003.
The organization only relocates the critters between June and the first part of February, because of breeding season, Haddock said.
She encourages residents to coexist with prairie dogs. But if that is not an option, she urges them to call Citizens for Prairie Dogs at 657-4563.
There are also some ways to discourage the rodents from entering residential property.
Haddock said that prairie dogs are scared to cross barriers that they have not been able to check out visually. She suggests obstructing the view, which can be achieved with a hedge or a wall.
"It does most definitely deter them," she said, adding that they will move on to greener pastures.
To comment on this story:
robin.briscoe@lubbockonline.com t 766-8742
brian.williams@lubbockonline.com t 766-8717
Anybody have a picture of one?
If they are not dangerous or carry disease, I would hope people could coexist with them or have a place for them to relocate to.
My memory is foggy but I believe last year they were finding many had the plague or something nasty. I don't recall exactly where (AZ maybe?) but they do harbor some diseases.
I know, that upsets me. Humans are so arrogant. The least we could do is help them relocate.
I think coexisting would be just fine.
I used to live in North Dakota which has a large prairie dog population. They never bothered us. We got along fine.
I would be happy to share my property with a colony of them.
They carry lice. Lice in turn occasionally carries the Plague (yeah THAT one).
Here in CO whole colonies will die out from the Plague, then get repopulated sometime later.
Even had some tree rats (squirrels) that had the Plague in Colorado Springs a few years ago.
Anybody have a picture of one?
If they are not dangerous or carry disease, I would hope people could coexist with them or have a place for them to relocate to.
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Leaving next week on hunting dog trip.
thousands of bullets and hundreds of rats.
you see the people who live with them know as a rat, call them prairie rats. Only liberal thinking souls call them dogs and cute.
We have "rodent control" in our area. It's called black dust. When they cross the highway....we turn'em into dust!!
I knew it wouldn't take long!
It never does.
A different kind of "dog"
Prairie Dogs make really good targets for practicing with your .222 or .243. :-)
I really hope you enjoy explaining your "respect" of animals when you meet your maker.
But I'm a softy, I think they're cute too... but I've got moles in my yard and horse pasture that are about to drive me batty, and I think when these guys dig a hole, it's a lot worse :~)
I just wish in the planning process, they would incorporate a relocation program for evicted wildlife.
Prairie Dogs are like mice or rats. There are bazillions of them, they carry nasty diseases and they destroy crops and land. Killing them is an act of self preservation, much like spraying for mosquitoes or swatting houseflies.
Insects are living beings too. Do you feel guilty about swatting them or spraying for them?
I agree we need to leave room and wild places. The problem (not a popular one here!) is there's too many people, and we're not decreasing. :~\
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