The Vanishing Prairie Dog
Photographs by Raymond Gehman
Text by Michael E. Long
Shoot them or save them, hate them or love them, there’s little middle ground where prairie dogs are concerned. The government poisons them, developers bulldoze them, aficionados rescue them, while ranchers, complaining that they take the grass from grazing cows’ mouths, brand them "prairie rats."
Scientists counter with a list of ecological good deeds—prairie dogs are virtual fertilizing machines—and point to their linchpin status as supermarket and hotelier: For many creatures prairie dogs are prey and their burrows provide shelter.
Whether vermin or victims, one thing is clear—habitat destruction, shooting, and poisoning have eliminated the black-tailed prairie dogs from about 98 percent of their range.
NGM 1998/04