The prairie dog is going the way of the American Bison, the black bear, the red wolf, gray wolf, black footed ferret, and the jaguar.
I don’t believe that you should exterminate a species because a parasitic vector (flea) is spreading a disease. It’s like using a 15 sledge hammer to drive a nail to hang a picture. It’s not necessary.
The Moose Jaw Times Herald
Deer mice may look like cute, cuddly little creatures, but these rodents actually carry a deadly disease known as hantavirus.
According to the population health branch of the Ministry of Health, there have been 18 confirmed cases of hantavirus in the province since 1994, including one in a rural area of the Five Hills Health Region in 2002.
Although infection is rare, 40 to 50 per cent of those who contract the disease will die.
“There is no vaccination for hantavirus,” said Dr. Mark Vooght, Medical Health Officer for Five Hills Health Region.
Cottage owners, farmers and campground and cabin operators are most at risk because spring cleanup of unused rural buildings disturbs deer mice who may have nested there during the winter.
Half of all known cases in Saskatchewan were traced back to rural or farm settings.
Hantavirus — which causes a lung infection called Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome — can be contracted by inhaling airborne particles of saliva, urine or excrement from infected rodents, as well as through direct contact with broken skin or eye membranes, eating or drinking contaminated food or water or being bitten by an infected rodent.
http://www.mjtimes.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=125945&sc=3
The prairie dog is going the way of the American Bison, the black bear, the red wolf, gray wolf, black footed ferret, and the jaguar.
Fact is, people shoot the dogs because the private property owners like them to. Never mind why the private owner like them to. That’s none of your business, really.
Shooters are happy to do it because it is fun and rewarding to develop important skills, and to enjoy the fellowship of other shooters. Shooting the dogs is particularly satisfying because one knows one is providing a service, and because the dogs make a perfect target, standing up still at appropriate distances to make the effort satisfying.
I have paid to fly cross country and paid a fee to the landowner to shoot their dogs. Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it. And it can be fun for kids, too, but it makes them more mature, so calling it “childish” is quite contrary to the facts.
“The prairie dog is going the way of the American Bison, the black bear, the red wolf, gray wolf, black footed ferret, and the jaguar.”
I didn’t know the black bear was endangered. Heck, the biologists here say the population is the highest it’s been in more than a century. That’s mostly because of federal funding on hunting equipment has been used for decades to reintroduce, manage and purchase habitat for this and many other once threatened species. Those toothless, beer drinking hunters pay for this.
And wolf hunting seasons have just been established in some western states, since the reintroduction has been so successful.
If you really want to help wildlife, you should consider buying a hunting license, whether you use it to hunt or not. They don’t even require you have teeth to purchase one.