[Taxacom] black-footed ferret reintroductions

[Diana Horton]

I would like to know whether the ranchers who favour either poisoning or 
shooting prairie dogs (I wonder which way the prairie dogs would choose to 
go?) have a valid concern.  Have any studies been done to determine just 
how much grass prairie dogs consume?  Are they really such a threat to 
livestock?

Also, I presume that the anti-prairie dog ranchers have been made aware 
that the black-footed ferrets would control the prairie dog populations.

Diana Horton
University of Iowa

At 11:56 AM 9/18/2006, Ken Kinman wrote:
>Dear All,
>      North America's most endangered mammal, the black-footed ferret (once
>thought extinct), is being slowly reintroduced back into the wild.  However,
>efforts to do so in Kansas may be scuttled by neighboring ranchers and the
>Logan County Commission.  Using an old state "eradication" law, the county
>can enter the proposed reintroduction sites to poison the prairie dogs (and
>adding insult to injury, send a hefty bill to the landowners).  Such action
>could begin on October 1, and very well ruin any chance of introducing the
>black-footed ferret on any of those sites.  For those interested,
>yesterday's Hays Daily News printed an editorial and several related stories
>on the heated debate over how to control prairie dogs without resorting to
>poison.  Here's the weblink (to the editorial and 5 related stories):
>
>http://www.dailynews.net/hdnews/prairiedogs/index.html
>
>
>
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