Prairie Dogs to be Relocated

The prairie dogs’ reprieve could be credited to the World Wide Web. Internet surfers found the Beacon’s story outlining plans to gas the prairie dogs on Tuesday, and immediately contacted Grants City Manager Bob Horacek, the Beacon and local animal group For the Animals of Cibola County and offered to find a way to relocate the creatures. By Wednesday Paula Martin, a Denver ecologist who does extensive work in New Mexico, was in Grants to survey the playing fields and see if relocation was feasible

Martin also spoke to representatives of the city council, the Cibola County American Amateur Baseball Congress (CCAABC), Grants Recreation Department and Operations Management International (OMI), which maintains the baseball fields for the city. She explained how much relocation would cost (the same as extermination) and how long the process would take (two days for preliminary removal). She identified two families of prairie dogs based on where their burrows were located, and said she could get between 75 and 90 percent of the rodents at one time. Martin offered to train local residents to capture and relocate the remaining rodents so city officials won’t have to pay her to come back.

Martin told officials that she has been relocating prairie dogs for 15 years and can guarantee a 90- to 100-percent survival rate for the rodents she is able to capture. The animals will be chased out of their burrows by a non-toxic mix of soap and water, she said, then they will be caged and moved to one of three federally approved protected habitats in New Mexico.

Martin warned, however, that prairie dogs whose dens have been poisoned in the past are harder to catch because they have become wary of humans. She also said that survivors of previous poisonings tend to dig more burrows. “They don’t want to share space with dead relatives,” Martin noted wryly. Subsequent generations of the same family tend to move back into the old burrows, however, so a family that would have stayed in one small area tend to spread out after some of them have been killed.

Because of that that defense mechanism, Martin noted, people who try to kill prairie dogs tend to find themselves with twice as many prairie dog holes as before.

In addition to telling city representatives how she would solve this year’s prairie dog problem, Martin offered tips on how to keep more rodents from moving into the fields next summer. The most effective deterrent, she said, is putting underground barriers around the baseball fields. A chain link fence buried in a three- to four-foot trench will keep dogs out for years, she said. Chicken wire could also be used but deteriorates quickly, Martin said. Other deterrents are available if barriers don’t work, she added.

The City of Grants has not only agreed to let Martin relocate the prairie dogs, but has already started discussing means of putting up barriers to keep out future generations of rodents. CCAABC and recreation department representatives have offered to relocate or reschedule baseball games while the dogs are being removed, and OMI has offered to help locate equipment needed to remove the animals from their burrows. For the Animals of Cibola County has offered to provide manpower during the initial removal process and to provide additional supplies. “We’re working for the best solution possible,” said city councilor Ruben Aranda.

Horacek said Martin plans to start her relocation program sometime next week. “Our governing body is always looking for the best solutions, even if they are not always the easiest.”

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