Prairie dogs difficult issue for ranchers, others

Kersey, Colo., rancher Dale Jackson sees both sides of the prairie dog issue. On one hand, the animals support many others, such as burrowing owls, black footed ferrets, hawks and more. “They’re kind of an essential part of Colorado, that’s for sure,” he said. Jackson has also seen first-hand the damage prairie dogs can do on ranching and farming operations, such as where he raises beef cattle and a few horses and grows hay in northern Colorado. “It’s kind of like prisons,” he said. “You need them but you don’t want them in your backyard.” Prairie dogs first moved onto his land three or four years ago. The population grew to the point where the prairie dogs were competing for forage in his pastureland and reducing his hay crop by a couple tons. “You have to control the numbers somehow,” he said. Last winter he hired a company to handle the job. They counted 844 prairie dog mounds on his 45 acres of land and told him they’d be able to reduce the population by 90 percent. “There’s still too many of them but they’re reduced somewhat,” Jackson said. In the panhandle of Nebraska, news of a Cheyenne County Commission meeting about the prairie dog problem there created a buzz of interest across the U.S., said Philip Sanders, a Cheyenne County commissioner. Since then he said it’s become a mess, with some wrongly accusing the commissioners of wanting to kill all the prairie dogs. Not true, he said, adding that he actually loves wildlife and enjoys watching prairie dogs. On the other side of the coin are the hunters. “I’ve had calls from over 30 people around the country, and I’m talking the entire United States, that want to come to Cheyenne County to hunt prairie dogs,” he said. “We’re not trying to promote hunting prairie dogs we just need to help the taxpayers control their problem. That’s all we’re after.” Sanders, a farmer from Potter, Neb., said in Cheyenne County, things are worst near the town of Lodgepole, Neb. A huge prairie dog town outside Lodgepole is getting bigger and starting to even invade the village. People are even finding prairie dogs in their garages. “They are out of control,” Sanders said. “And they need help.”...MORE