Urgent: Urge Logan County, Kansas, Officials to Halt Reported Prairie Dog Massacre!

http://www.prairiedogcoalition.org/

PETA has received phone calls from frantic residents of Logan County, Kansas, who are horrified by the news that county officials are setting out poisoned bait in order to kill prairie dogs on a 10,000-acre privately owned ranch in Winona, Kansas, despite prolonged efforts over the past several years by residents to protect these animals.

Many farmers welcome the presence of prairie dogs—they are natural soil aerators, and their nitrogen-rich dung actually improves soil quality. They are also crucial to the survival of many other protected and endangered species, including black-footed ferrets, who reportedly live on this very property. Poison left out in such an area not only threatens prairie dogs with a slow, painful death but also endangers predators such as ferrets, foxes, and hawks—who may eat the bodies of poisoned prairie dogs—and domestic animals such as cattle, who may inadvertently consume the poison as they are grazing. Furthermore, lethal methods are never an effective method of controlling unwanted wildlife populations, as more animals invariably move into the areas left vacant.

Please contact the Logan County Commissioners and request that they immediately remove all poison set out in an attempt to kill prairie dogs and that they instead work with PETA and other animal protection groups to establish humane control methods for unwanted prairie dog populations.

Please send polite comments to:

Douglas Mackey, Logan County Commissioner
710 W. Second St.
County Courthouse
Oakley, KS 67748-1251
785-671-4244
785-671-3341 (fax)

Robert Scott, Logan County Commissioner
710 W. Second St.
County Courthouse
Oakley, KS 67748-1251
785-671-4244
785-671-3341 (fax)

Carl Uhrich, Logan County Commissioner
710 W. Second St.
County Courthouse
Oakley, KS 67748-1251
785-671-4244
785-671-3341 (fax)