I am part of a group called Prairie Protection Colorado and they shared this case study from Grasslands Colorado (Aug 2025) that is absolutely gut-wrenchingly horrifying. Some key points:
The black tailed prairie dog in CO has lost up to 99% of their original territory and population.
Sports-killers (bc this isn't hunting for subsistence) come in groups, loaded up with high powered guns, using the cheapest ammo which usually means lead bullets--which poisons any wildlife that tries to eat the carcasses.
These groups kill HUNDREDS of prairie dogs, if not over a 1,000 each 'hunt'.
They are allowed to kill an unlimited number of prairie dogs 9 months out of the year.
They call themselves the 'red-mist' society because they bring the biggest guns they can to basically obliterate these animals into 'red mist'.
They consider themselves to be doing 'god's-work' in taking out this keystone species bc they believe them to be nuisances and carriers of plague.
They go onto public lands with the consent of certain parks and wildlife employees.
The black-tailed prairie dog does meet the qualifications for being considered an endangered species but CO has done nothing to protect them.
They are supposed to do surveys of their population but the way they've been doing them is through aerial surveys which is very inaccurate.
If we don't want to lose a keystone species, like we almost lost the bison and the bald eagles then we have to act NOW.
If you are a CO resident, I urge you to contact your representatives. If you are not a CO resident but still have prairie dogs in your state, I urge you to look into the wildlife regulations surrounding them. Tell everyone you know cares about animals about this because it is unacceptable.
