Which is why the good people in NW Colorado have been on a search and destroy mission against ground squirrels, ferrets, prairie dogs, jack rabbits, and other assorted vermin for over a century. Also one reason - the other being tularemia - one should wait until after a good hard frost to hunt bunnies. Cut down on the incidence of plague and produced a great population of long distance shooters.
Now the USFWS and other urban do-gooders have introduced a population of protected ferrets and are talking about protecting some species of ground squirrel.
What morons!