Hi All, I have great sympathy for the people trying to obtain support for better treatment of the prairie dog in the USA. I have read of gassings and killing of several colonies of these animals and believe that they need help from supportive huamn advocates. As with all creatures in the web of life, it is not until it is too late and we have nearly wiped out a species that people will change their attitudes. The prairie dog is a food source for other animals and is also at loggerheads with human colonisation of the land. Somehow, there must be an answer to the problem of how to co-exist with these animals instead of allowing them to be obliterated from the face of the Earth. Marguerite Subject: OH MY, WHAT A SURPRISE! From:[EMAIL PROTECTED] FROM THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS DENVER, COLORADO September 4, 1998 PRAIRIE DOGS FAIL TO MAKE THE LIST US Wildlife Officials Will Review Status of Black-Tailed Species By Deborah Frazier Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer The black-tailed prairie dog won't get an emergency endangered species listing, but the US Fish and Wildlife Service will review arguments for protecting the animal. Last month, the National Wildlife Federation petitioned for the emergency listing, arguing that prairie dogs are a "keystone" species on which many other animals depend. The wildlife federation said the unregulated mass slaughter by residential and commercial development, ranchers and sport (I didn't know that using live animals for target practice was considered a sport!-pdrcolo) hunters threatened the short-grass prairie ecosystem in the 11 states where the black- tail prairie dog lives. "Species should be considered for emergency listing when the immediacy of the threat is so great....that large losses may result in extinction," Patricia Worthing of the wildlife service wrote last week. "We don't believe these losses will be great enough to threaten the species' continued existence," she said. (Ya, right, how about the real reason is that the prairie dog is a political hot potato?!-pdrcolo) The agency will make a decision by November on whether the black-tailed prairie dog is in serious decline and merits a full one-year study. (If they don't know or understand the serious status of the prairie dog after all that has been written in the scientific community as well as the mass media, then they have purposely been sticking their heads in the sand because they don't want to know. They don't need to do a one-year study, they already know. They're just dragging it out trying to figure out how to get out of dealing with the issue. Their motto is "Don't know. Don't care. Don't want to know." as far as the prairie dog is concerned.-pdrcolo). "It wasn't a big surprise," said Dan Chu, regional organizer for the wildlife federation. "It's hard to make the argument that they are going to disappear tomorrow. We're disappointed, but we're not surprised." The black-tailed prairie dog is a football-sized, squirrel-like mammal with a short, black-tipped tail. The agricultural community and developers opposed emergency protections. (Oh please, give me a break. Have the agricultural community and the rip-and- destroy community EVER supported a listing of any kind?!!-pdrcolo) "They'll never be extinct," said Marshall Frasier, vice president of the Colorado Livestock Association (formerly the Colorado Cattle Feeders Association) and a rancher near Limon, Colorado. "They are cute when they stand up. And if we gave two to every environmentalist and they kept them in their back yards, they'd see how destructive they are," he said. (Oh, and cows are NOT destructive, Marshall?-pdrcolo). "We have to keep a balance and we have to do that with common sense and not emotions." (And I suppose we do that with cows and grazing, heh, Marshall?-pdrcolo) Note: Marshall Frasier and all his buddies need to get a clue. But their motto is and always will be "Don't confuse me with the facts." Tell them what you think: Marshall Frasier 5725 Highway 71 Woodrow, Colorado 80757 (719) 775-2934 Colorado Livestock Association 11990 Grant St #402 Northglenn, Colorado 80233 (303) 457-2232 Fax: (303) 457-4609 Colorado Cattlemen's Association 8833 Ralston Road Arvada, Colorado 80002 (303) 431-6422 Fax: (303) 431-6446 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] National Wildlife Federation 8925 Leesburg Pike Vienna Virginia 22184 (703) 790-4000 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To read their prairie dog index page and to read a complete copy of the listing petition, go to their web page address: http://www.nwf.org/nwf/grasslands/index.html. They also have quite a few other interesting and informative articles about prairie dogs and their place in the short-grass prairie ecosystem. They also have a place to leave your comments on their web site, so while you're at it, thank them for having the intestinal fortitude to take this step in behalf of the prairie dogs and all the other 160+ non-human animals that depend on the prairie dogs. Dan Chu Regional Organizer National Wildlife Federation Rocky Mountain Natural Resource Center 2260 Baseline Rd #100 Boulder, Colorado 80302 (303) 786-8001 x 15 Fax: (303) 786-8054 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Colorado Wildlife Federation (This was the Colorado subgroup of the NWF that didn't want to stick their necks out on the prairie dog issue as written up previously). Urge them to get a spine. 445 Union Blvd #302 Lakewood Colorado 80220 (303) 987-0400 Fax: (303) 987-0200 Please also contact these government people to urge them to do what is morally, ethically, and environmentally right. Yes, I know that's an oxymoron but it still needs to be done. Bruce "I Need to Get a Spine" Babbitt Secretary of the Interior 1849 C Street NW Washington DC 20240 (202) 208-3100 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ms.) LaVerne Smith National Chief, Endangered Species US Fish & Wildlife Services 4401 North Fairfax Dr #452 Arlington, Virginia 22203 (703)358-2171 Fax: (202) 208-6916 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ms.) Jamie Clark, Director US Fish and Wildlife Service 1849 C Street NW Washington DC 20240 (202) 208-4717 Fax: (202) 208-6965 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ralph Morgenweck Regional Director, Region 6 134 Union Blvd Lakewood CO 80215 (303) 236-7920 Fax: (303) 236-8295 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Olin Bray, Chief Region 6 Division of Endangered Species PO Box 25486 Denver Federal Center Denver CO 80225 (303) 236-7400 x 249 Fax: (303) 236-0027 =========================================================================== /`\ /`\ RABBIT INFORMATION SERVICE: _ _ (/\ \-/ /\) P.O.Box 30, Riverton, Western Australia 6148 (.\_/.) )6 6( http://www.wantree.com.au/~rabbit/rabbit.htm \6 6/ >{= Y =}< VEGETARIAN PAGE =\ /= /'-^-'\ http://www.geocities/RainForest/4620 /O\ / (_) (_) / \ ( | . | U U ) | |} Pity the human race its illusion of permanence (| |)/ \_/^\_/ w'-'w ===========================================================================
