WildEarth Guardians

Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Gunnison's Prairie Dog Suffers Setback

Fish & Wildlife Service Issues Negative Finding on Prairie Dog Petition
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

Santa Fe, NM - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a negative finding on a petition to protect the Gunnison's Prairie Dog under the Endangered Species Act, which means that the agency will not conduct a review on whether to list the species under the law. WildEarth Guardians and others who petitioned for the species' protection are planning to challenge the finding, given the Gunnison's prairie dog's severely imperiled condition and its decline by more than 90% over the past century.

WildEarth Guardians, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Native Ecosystems, and the Utah Environmental Congress sued the Service in December 2004 for failing to provide a determination on the February 2004 petition within the 90 days required by Endangered Species Act. The Service's finding is a setback to protecting the species under the law. A May 2005 report by the Center for Biological Diversity found that, from 1974-2004, listing delays have contributed to the extinction of 42 species.

"Today's finding is a terrible blow to a creature that is swiftly moving toward the brink of extinction," said Dr. Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians. "The Gunnison's Prairie Dog is running out of time, given assaults from oil and gas, unregulated poisoning, and rampant shooting," continued Rosmarino

There is growing recognition among scientists that one important way to address the mounting extinction crisis is to protect particular plants and wildlife whose conservation benefits associated species. The Service itself pledged its commitment to ecosystem protection over a decade ago, but has refused to list the Gunnison's Prairie Dog under the Endangered Species Act despite the multitude of wildlife that depends on prairie dogs for the habitat they create and as a prey base.

Partly out of recognition that protecting prairie dogs will safeguard whole ecosystems, conservation of the Gunnison's prairie dogs has broad support from many different walks of life. Among the 73 groups and individuals who joined onto WildEarth Guardians' petition to list the Gunnison's prairie dog under the Endangered Species Act were realtors, homebuilders, private landowners, retired military officials, religious organizations, and scientists.

Prompt listing is required to avoid extinction, as Gunnison's habitat continues to be destroyed due to reckless oil and gas drilling on public lands, rampant prairie dog shooting, and unrestricted poisoning. The federal government itself continues to poison prairie dogs at taxpayer expense. Gunnison's prairie dogs have declined by over 90% in the last century.

"The Gunnison Prairie Dog is one of the least among us. They have much to teach us about living in community. May our compassion to stop this species' extinction be stronger than our inaction, which will surely diminish its chances for survival. With the protection of prairie dogs, we have an opportunity to strengthen the bonds of life instead of destroying this beautiful web of life," stated Terry Tempest Williams, author of The Open Space of Democracy and Annie Clark Tanner Scholar in Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah.

Also supporting federal protection for the Gunnison's prairie dog is Dr. Con Slobodchikoff, who has pioneered research over the past two decades demonstrating a prairie dog language system which distinguishes between types of predators, specific characteristics of humans, and indicates learning and memory.

"Our studies are showing that Gunnison's prairie dogs have the most complex natural animal language that has been decoded so far in any animal species. This is giving us insight into the capabilities of other animal species. It would be tragic to lose a species that has so much to teach us about the cognitive abilities of animals," stated Dr. Con Slobodchikoff of Northern Arizona University.

The February 7 finding comes on the heels of Groundhog Day, which conservation groups are celebrating as Prairie Dog Day in the West. WildEarth Guardians has taken prairie dog protective actions for four years in a row on Groundhog Day to raise awareness of the plight of prairie dogs and the keystone role they play in their ecosystems. Mayor Martin Chavez of Albuquerque and five Santa Fe City Councilors joined the group in declaring February 2, 2006 as Prairie Dog Day.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's finding was published in the Federal Register on February 7, 2006, and is available on-line here. For more information, call Dr. Nicole Rosmarino of WildEarth Guardians at 505-699-7404, or Dr. Con Slobodchikoff, Gunnison's prairie dog biologist, at 928-699-2787.

Background Information

Gunnison's prairie dogs have declined by over 90% across their range, due to historic and current poisoning and shooting, sylvatic plague, and habitat destruction. Over the past several years, plague has devastated prairie dog populations across large areas in northern Arizona. Habitat destruction has resulted in prairie dog acreage reductions in Flagstaff, AZ and Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos, NM. Rampant shooting of Gunnison's prairie dogs occurs in Colorado and escalating oil and gas development is eroding remaining prairie dog habitat in several states.

Prairie dogs are keystone species, which play an especially important role in their ecosystems by creating habitat and providing a prey base for a wide variety of predators. For example, black-footed ferrets are among the most endangered mammals on earth, and that imperiled status is traced directly to prairie dog declines. Ferrets cannot survive in the wild outside of prairie dog towns and over 90% of their diet is prairie dogs.

WildEarth Guardians' petition documents threats from plague, shooting, poisoning, and habitat destruction (on both private and public lands) throughout the four-state range of the Gunnison's prairie dog. Among the petition's key findings:

• Extreme threat of plague: 2000s outbreak of plague has devastated populations in northern Arizona & 80% of plague cases in the U.S. are within Gunnison's range;
• Lack of government protections: the largest population of Gunnison's prairie dogs, in which black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced, is unprotected;
• Rampant shooting in Colorado: Over 200,000 prairie dogs were shot in 2002 alone.
• Government participation in poisoning: federal Wildlife Services, National Park Service, and state agricultural agencies continue to poison Gunnison's prairie dogs.
• Massive threat from oil and gas: over 300,000 acres have been offered by federal agencies for lease within range of Gunnison's prairie dog just since 2002.

The Gunnison's prairie dog is one of five species of prairie dog, all of which are native to North America. The other four prairie dog species have been listed under the Endangered Species Act or have been petitioned for listing. The Gunnison's prairie dog occurs in the four corners area of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Three-quarters of its range occurs in Arizona and New Mexico.

The Bush Administration has a track record of forestalling listing of imperiled species. While President Clinton listed 65 species a year during his administration, and President George H.W. Bush listed 59 species per year, the George W. Bush Administration has listed an average of only 8 species per year, and all of these were under court order.

Visit the issue page