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SANTA FE — A diverse coalition has petitioned the federal government to list the Gunnison's prairie dog as an "endangered" species. A coalition of some 73 groups and individuals, including realtors, developers, religious groups, artists and one photographer filed a petition to list the Gunnison's prairie dog under the Endangered Species Act. One Santa Fe builder says his clients love prairie dogs. It adds to the quality of life in Santa Fe. The Gunnison's prairie dog is one of five species of prairie dog, all native to North America. The Gunnison's prairie dog occurs in the Four Corners area of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. Three-quarters of its range is in Arizona and New Mexico. The Utah prairie dog has been listed as "threatened." The Mexican prairie dog has been listed as "endangered." The black-tailed and white-tailed prairie dogs have been petitioned for listing. The group co-coordinating the petition, the Forest Guardians, says plague has devastated Gunnison's prairie dogs in northern Arizona and New Mexico. They say 80 percent of plague cases among prairie dog colonies are within the Gunnison's range and claim that listing the prairie dogs will help protect them from plague. (Would an "endangered" label protect the white leghorn chicken from avian flu or the black baldy from BSE? Nah… such sorcery only works for eco-activists. — Ed.) The environmental activist group terms prairie dogs a "keystone" species which provides food for predators, such as the black-footed ferret, also an officially "endangered" species. Black-footed ferrets have been re-introduced in a Gunnison's prairie dog complex in Aubrey Valley, Ariz., but activists complain the prairie dogs there receive no government protection. |
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