Judge rules prairie dog trapping can continue

A judge said this week the trapping of the threatened Utah prairie dogs in Cedar City can continue. U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups has denied an effort brought by environmental groups fighting the trapping, which allows Cedar City officials to relocate the threatened prairie dog from its golf course. Waddoups ruled Wednesday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service followed proper procedure when it issued permits to the city and the Paiute Tribe to trap and relocate the animals, which have occupied the golf course and adjacent tribal land for nearly two decades. In 2007, WildEarth Guardians, formerly Forest Guardians -- along with the Utah Environmental Congress, Center for Native Ecosystems and naturalist-author Terry Tempest Williams -- sued the agency claiming its actions would harm prairie dog populations...Salt Lake Tribune