Defend the Gunnison 's Prairie Dog : AZ IMC

Arizona Earth First! Call to Action: Defend the Gunnison’s Prairie Dogs

The Gunnison’s Prairie Dog (GPD) is one of five species of prairie dog that inhabit North America. This foot long, golden brown, colonial animal can be found in Arizona’s high deserts and mountain grasslands. The GPD has disappeared from 90% of its historic range across the United States. Of the available/suitable habitat that remains, 30% of it can be found in Arizona. Within the AZ territory only, the GPD has been extirpated from 98% of its former range. Historically, the GPD was found across four million acres in Arizona. Today that area has been drastically reduced to 100,000 acres. These facts strongly suggest that the GPD is treading the path towards extinction.

The dramatic decline of the GPD is due federal and private extermination campaigns, and habitat destruction due to commercial livestock grazing. The plight of the Gunnison’s is a cause for concern for a number of reasons. First, and most obviously, this species is staring into the abyss of extinction. Second, the GPD is a keystone species, providing an ecological function that other species depend on. Gunnison’s Prairie Dogs create networks of burrows that once abandoned, create shelter for a wide array of insects, mammals, birds, and reptiles. The GPD also serves as a prey base for various predators, including the endangered Black-footed Ferret.

Despite all of this the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) still allows hunting for the Gunnison’s Prairie Dog. This kind of “hunting” by so called “sportsmen”, entails setting up lawn chairs, a table, and a rife, waiting for the Gunnison’s to pock its head above its burrow, and then tarring it apart with high velocity rounds. After a .223 high velocity bullet has hit a prairie dog, there is nothing left to eat or to turn into a trophy. Arizona Earth First! has employed all means available to us to persuade AGFD to recognize what is happening to the Gunnison’s, and act on it. We have written letters, attended public meetings, and personally given public comment before the AGFD Commission, all to no avail. AGFD is stone walling us and the Gunnison’s. Specifically, we have asked for the closure of the GPD season on the Boquillas Ranch (Unit 10), because of the size of the area and its close proximity to the endangered Black-footed Ferret population. Having refused this, AGFD has given us no choice but to expose this “hunt” for the cruel, absurd, blood lust that it is. We will be entering the killing fields on June 16 (opening for prairie dog season) to document the destruction of this ecologically important species. This will be an opportunity to show folks first hand what is happening on the Boquillas Ranch. Join us on the June 16, for the Gunnison’s and the land. Contact us for details at phoenixef@excite.com.

For All Nations Wild and Free
No Compromise, Earth First!