Agency finds prairie dogs not endangered
Posted on December 4th, 2009
Greenwire: The black-tailed prairie dog should not be listed as an endangered or threatened species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced yesterday.
The prairie dog population has gone from roughly 1 billion since the early 1900s to an estimated 24 million today. And there may be some new threats that endanger the animals.
U.S. EPA approved the expanded use of a new prairie dog poison, Rozol, over objections from Fish and Wildlife. Environmental groups filed suit to repeal the approval.
Joy Gober, a Fish and Wildlife biologist, said her agency is worried about the poison’s potential danger to predators, such as black-footed ferrets and eagles (Associated Press, Dec. 3). – JK