http://www.kotv.com/news/local/story/?id=121637
Prairie Dog Eradication Draws Complaints From ResidentsAP - 3/3/2007 2:55 PM - LAWTON, Okla. (AP)
City officials' eradication of a burgeoning prairie dog colony at a local park has angered some residents who believe the creatures are the recreation area's most popular attraction. Grounds crews began applying aluminum phosphide pellets deep into burrows at Elmer Thomas Park on Wednesday and plugged the entrances. The pellets release a poisonous gas that kills anything within the space in which it's released. The compound, commonly used to kill rodents and insects, is approved as a prairie dog removal technique by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Lawton Constitution reported.
Parks and Recreation Director Kim Shahan called the removal a matter of public safety. Park visitors could trip on the holes left by the animals and their burrowing activity could damage structures and landscaping, the director said. Shahan estimated the prairie dog population to be about 10,000. A private contractor set the number at 7,000 last fall, but a critic of the poisoning program said there aren't more than 2,000.
Prairie dogs are rodents that are related to squirrels and chipmunks. They are native to North American grasslands and are found in the United States primarily west of the Mississippi River.
City Council members rejected a $163,000 removal and relocation proposal from a private firm, saying it cost too much and the public wouldn't support the expenditure. Susan Hubby, of Lubbock, Texas-based Citizens for Prairie Dogs, said the program is "giving Lawton a black eye. "Mothers and babies are dying in those holes. That's inhumane," Hubby said. She said she is especially angry because her group submitted a proposal for removal and relocation to the city on Feb. 16.
Assistant City Manager Greg Buckley said he visited with Joann Haddock, a representative of Citizens for Prairie Dogs. The group proposed removing 2,000 of the prairie dogs in a six-month period beginning in June, for a cost of $375 per eight-hour day. Buckley said Lawton officials wanted a quicker resolution to the problem. "We considered that proposal, and she understood the city had to address the issue and move forward," Buckley said.
John Paul Miller, a retired Parks and Recreation ground supervisor, said he watched the problem for years as a city employee. Now as an athletic maintenance supervisor for Lawton Public Schools, he said he has spent nights working with Lawton High School's football coach filing holes on the practice field there. "It was a constant battle," he said, noting his job with the city included daily work to cover burrow entrances. "Before you got home, the little dudes had dug them up again. Many nights, I was called by people, wanting someone to do something about them."
Hubby said a better solution is a "capture and relocate" program, such as the one her organization offers. "This is the most misunderstood little critter there is," she said. Shahan said the plan is to allow a colony to remain on a 4-acre tract north of the Ramada Inn, a little-used area that is considered part of Elmer Thomas Park. But Shahan said the city still will carefully maintain that population.
"We'll evaluate every breeding season," he said. "The number now: It's out of control."
"Out of control breeding, just north of the Ramada Inn" sounds like a commercial for the Lawton Chamber of Commerce.
Okla. town halts prairie dog poisoning Fri Mar 9, 12:27 PM ET
LAWTON, Okla. - The city agreed to stop poisoning prairie dogs, whose antics have attracted tourists to local park, after outraged residents came to the rodents' defense.
The small, stout rodents have been burrowing through Elmer Thomas Park for decades, annoying city workers but entertaining onlookers. Parks and Recreation Director Kim Shahan estimates the black-tailed prairie dog population at the park has doubled to 8,000 since 2002. When the rodents started to encroach on neighboring Lawton High School athletic fields, the city decided to take drastic action.
"This isn't about the prairie dog," Shahan said. "I like the prairie dog as much as anyone else. But the issue now is safety." City workers spent two nights last week dropping poisonous pellets into prairie dog holes and then sealing them to reduce the population. The pellets contain aluminium phosphide. Moisture in the soil produces a phosphine gas that kills the prairie dogs. "We found out about it the next day, and the people that loved the prairie dogs really started hollering," said resident Sherry Bly.
Angry protesters converged on the park Saturday, and the group began an online petition drive to "stop the poisoning of our Lawton Prairie Dog Population!" "I think it was horribly cruel, and it was done in an inhumane way," Bly said. "Those little prairie dogs suffered horribly."
Shahan said the city has halted its poisoning efforts for now. Keith Mitchell, Lawton public schools spokesman, has seen countless prairie dog holes appear on the grounds surrounding Lawton High School, including the baseball field and football practice field. "We're fighting them back," Mitchell said. "Right now, our groundskeepers fill holes with dirt as soon as they see them. Naturally, our concern is the safety of our students.
"We don't want some kid going back on a fly ball, worrying that he might step in a hole and break his ankle," Mitchell said.
That's a pretty loaded thread title.
But it is kind of unfortunate. The people who orchestrated this are trying to help the situation, which I admit is out of hand (as somewhat of a Lawtonian myself) but they're going about it in a very misguided way.
They're eradicating them from the park when the problem is that they've overrun the city of Lawton.
Understand that the park, Elmer Thomas Park, is in an inner city neighborhood in Lawton. Immediately to the south is the Old Town North neighborhood (historic district) and they're trying to get some infill like lofts and retail going on 2nd Street, which runs along the east side of Elmer Thomas Park.
So just take care of the problem outside of the park. This doesn't solve the problem at all and just kills the cute, furry rodents that Lawton residents have come to love.