Every day, they watched a contractor across the street gas the very same animals they were toiling to save. Last year in Boulder, Colorado, the city council compromised by relocating 30 to 40 acres of prairie dogs to a wildlife refuge and “lethally managing” 100 to 200 acres annually for three years.Īs part of this project, the Humane Society of the United States’ wildlife protection program director, Lindsey Sterling Krank, and her team spent three months relocating prairie dogs-trapping, transporting and digging artificial burrows-and training new technicians and government agency employees to do the same. Yet the personable little rodents often find themselves at the center of local politics, with decision-makers balancing the preservation of their habitat against agricultural land needs, as well as the comparatively high cost of relocation versus “lethal management” (the official term for injecting carbon monoxide into prairie dogs’ tunnels). You’d think it would be easy to persuade people to protect prairie dogs: Not only are they a keystone species, with nine other species directly dependent on them for survival, but they’re also irresistibly cute, with big eyes and big personalities. Weathering the storm Overcoming despair in the face of immense animal suffering
