These personable burrow-dwellers are a keystone species, providing essential food and digging underground tunnels other native wildlife make use of. Unfortunately, neither their charm nor their role in promoting biodiversity has saved prairie dogs from decades of persecution by ranchers and others who view them as pests. Every year, prairie dogs are poisoned, shot for sport or even buried alive when colonies are bulldozed to make way for development.
One scientific study shows that prairie dogs have complex language skills, including “words” for specific things they see, like “tall human in blue shirt.”
Prairie dogs build intricate warrens with kitchen, bedroom, nursery and bathroom areas. These underground tunnels also benefit jackrabbits, tiger salamanders, toads, swift foxes, burrowing owls and other species.
Help us stop the senseless killing and promote humane solutions to conflicts between prairie dogs and people.