Ending the Destruction of Prairie Dogs on Public Lands

Federal agencies have resumed poisoning prairie dogs on public lands. Several poisonings are now in the planning stages; some occur each fall. Defenders of Wildlife is working to end this destruction of our public wildlife. Our goal is to focus on saving the largest remaining prairie dog colonies, and to restore new large prairie dog colonies where possible. Large prairie dog colonies are important because they once were very common and are now almost completely gone, and many animals depend on these large colonies for survival.

How large are we talking? For that answer we look to the needs of the endangered black-footed ferret, an “obligate” of prairie dogs (meaning that ferrets depend on prairie dogs and cannot survive without them). A healthy population of black-footed ferrets requires a complex of very large prairie dog colonies – at least 10,000 acres of prairie dog colonies and most likely more than 20,000 acres. And the colonies need to be close together, not scattered by distances too far for ferrets to travel. Our hope is that this size is large enough to accommodate the needs of all the other species that depend on large prairie dog colonies, such as burrowing owls.

Once commonplace across the west, very few prairie dog colonies of this size and density remain today. Luckily, the west still contains millions of acres of land suitable for prairie dogs; humans just need to let prairie dogs survive in a few areas without the ongoing threats of poisons or bullets. Our public lands are a great place to restore the large prairie dog colonies once so common across the west.

To learn about the many places Defenders is working to save and restore prairie dogs, see our webpages on the black-footed ferret.