THE PRAIRIE DOG MUST GO 



By ROBERT E. CLARK, 



Deputy Supervisor, Leadvili.e Nationai. Forest. 







^^=^0 make the earth habitable for himself, man, throughout history, has been 

 ^^^ compelled to wage war on other animals whose existence has run counter 

 to his interests. Always he has killed ofif or driven out the beasts that 

 have interfered with him or his property. The rattlesnake and the wolf are now 

 unknown in many parts of the country, though the typhoid fly and the familiar 

 but consuming mouse still abound. From the saber-tooth tiger of primitive 

 times to the plague-infested rat or the destructive San Jose scale, the fight 

 has gone on. Had the killing been confined to such as these, the record 

 would be better, for man has exterminated many kinds of animals which are 

 not only harmless but useful. Just now he is after a most interesting little 

 animal, but one that is doing immeasurable harm throughout the cattle and 

 sheep ranges of the West. 



Since prairie dog and white man were first introduced to one another, 

 each has doubtless considered the other an undesirable citizen. With the 

 entrance of the pioneers came the loss of horses and cattle through broken 

 legs as the result of stepping into prairie dog holes. Also man himself often 

 suffered broken bones as a result of being thrown from a horse which had 

 the misfortune to step into a dog burrow. Then came the stock-raising in- 

 dustry, and the sufferings and losses experienced by this industry has made 

 it evident that an infestation of prairie dogs on any portion of the range is a 

 decided hindrance to perfect handling of stock. 



Not only do the owners suffer direct loss from the necessity of shooting 

 stock that have broken limbs, but yearly they suffer a considerable loss due 

 to cattle being light in weight. Cattle fall off in weight either from lack 

 of feed or from being required to move about considerably to find the feed. 

 Every prairie dog hole or town on the range causes a considerable area to 

 become bare of grass or other forage, and it is but a few years after the dogs 

 come in before large tracts are worthless to stock. The feeding capacity of 

 the range is reduced not only by the area included in the dog towns, but also 

 for a considerable distance surrounding these tracts, for their feeding grounds 

 must be included in the range that the dogs destroy. Like other rodents, 

 they have increased with the advent of man. The rapid increase in their 

 number has become so pronounced that steps have been taken by the Biological 

 Survey of the Department of Agriculture, by the Forest Sevice, and by private 

 individuals to accomplish their extermination. 



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