I’m reading a book for the second time titled Raw Deal (Ken Smith). It’s about bad happenings to Americans.
Anywho I was wondering two things: How accurate is this book?
And Prairie Dogs, are they really being horribly butchered? Is it true that over a Billion of the animals are being slaughtered to provide cattle ranchers more land?
Slaughtered? Nah, they are sucked up and sent to Japan as pets.
I have not read the book in question but farmers and ranchers do indeed consider ground squirrels, gophers and prairie dogs more than a nuisance and do employ control methods. Knowing how quickly these critters can multiply, I wouldn’t doubt the billion figure.
As I mentioned though, they tend to be very prolific and with the exception of one particular species seem to be in no danger of becoming extinct any time soon.
Do a search of Evil Nazi Groundhogs in the BBQ pit for some insight.
There are a lot less prairie dogs in the west than there used to be. Many people do not consider this a problem. But in general they are not in danger of extinction. I think maybe there is one species that is in trouble. There are lots of people that consider them excellent target practice and some of them have clubs and wear obnoxious t-shirts showing exploding 'dogs. I don’t have much respect for that type. But they do virually denude large areas of vegetation, and they are hard on livestock, that step into the holes and get hurt.
A billion is a VERY large number, and perhaps there were billions of them at one time, but I doubt there exist a billion 'dogs any more. So “they” can’t be slaughtering a billion 'dogs, at least any more.
Environmentally, the biggest loss is to the predators that feed on the dogs, like the black-footed ferret. That animal is very endangered, although it is apparently on the recovery path because of great efforts by the US FIsh and Wildlife Service, and because of a lot of taxpayer dollars. (try to get that kind of bucks to save a critter without fur)
'Dogs are very well endowed with “The Cute Furry Critter Syndrome” and people have a tendency to get all bent out of shape when you hurt an animal with CFCS. While 'dogs have been on the decline for a long time, I’d be willing to bet that their populations are fairly stable now. (This is a testable theory- an email or two to the FWS people in Wyoming that work with the ferrets should get an answer). I think there are a lot of animals in a lot more danger than 'dogs, just not so charismatic. Like the pallid sturgeon, the wyoming toad, and many, many others.