Prairie dog traps vandalized on south side of Niwot

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article titled "Local prairie dogs on the move," originally appeared in the PDF version of the Aug. 19, 2020 edition.

Vandals smashed prairie dog traps being set by Boulder County to reduce the population of the animals living on the north side of Hwy. 52, near the Somerset development. Boulder County Agricultural Specialist, Amy Schwartz, doesn't recall that ever happening in the county.

Schwartz said that the Boulder County Sheriff is investigating. Anyone with information is asked to contact the department. Local prairie dog activists are known to be passionate and vocal about protecting the animals. But Schwartz doesn't associate them with vandalism. "Most of these advocacy groups don't partake in these activities," she said.

The plan was to entice about 200 prairie dogs into live traps and then send them to Wyoming to become prey for endangered black footed ferrets. There were about 100 traps out when the vandalism occurred on Tuesday. Schwartz estimated about 70 were damaged, although she hasn't been able to do a full assessment because of the investigation. She said the traps cost $65. She isn't sure if any can be fixed.

Schwartz said the colony of about 1,000 animals has outgrown the property called Hillside Estates and is moving into farmland south of Hwy. 52. Both sides of the highway are owned by Boulder County Open Space. "It's gotten out of control in the last three years. It's exploded," Schwartz said. "We've been getting a lot of noxious weeds and denuded land and it's becoming dusty and dirt."

Brown metal traps were baited with sweet feed, usually fed to horses, and sunflower seeds, enticing prairie dogs that are under pressure to find food, because they've consumed so much of the nutritional vegetation on the land, which also keeps them hydrated. "We're in a severe drought, as you know," Schwartz said.

Typically, prairie dogs do not drink water. "They get water from roots," Schwartz said. "They are not looking real good right now. You see a lot of skinnier animals. A lot of animals look like they have mange. It's not mange, but they get hair loss like you'd see in someone who is malnourished."

Prairie dogs have historically moved to greener pastures as their numbers expand. They used to cover as much as 100 million acres in the United States and now occupy less than one percent of their historic range, according to the National Park Service. But with human population growth and development in Boulder County and the greater plains ecosystem, they don't have the option to spread out. When they can't move or aren't welcome on a piece of land, the colonies struggle.

"Reducing the pressure is going to alleviate food competition and dominant males fighting for females. There will be less dispersal per year. We won't see as many dead ones on the road," Schwartz said. Those are typically the juvenile males who are kicked out of the family home in May or June when they're about a year old.

Predators help keep the prairie dog numbers in check. Those include large raptors like golden eagles and red tail hawks, bobcats and badgers. But, Schwartz said that badgers no longer live in Boulder County because of development. She said coyotes prefer rabbits, which are easier to catch because they don't have a sophisticated communication system like prairie dogs, who stand up and toss their heads back to yip out warnings when there is danger.

The animals are also food for endangered black footed ferrets, whose diet consists of 90% prairie dogs, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.. Ferrets also make their homes in former prairie dog burrows. Black footed ferrets nearly went extinct before a captive breeding program began in the 1980s in Wyoming. There are still only about 300 - 500 in the wild, including some in Colorado that were reintroduced to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal and Pawnee Grasslands. But for the ferrets to thrive, they need hundreds of acres of land populated with prairie dogs, Schwartz said.

With fragmented grasslands across the West, there are few potential sites for ferret reintroduction and, Schwartz said, most prairie dogs are killed rather than sent to Wyoming to support the ferret recovery program, as the Hillside Estates animals will be.

That may be of some comfort to prairie dog supporters, but relocating and killing prairie dogs remains controversial in Boulder County. The Boulder City Council is currently considering a contentious staff recommendation to allow lethal control to manage prairie dogs on city open space that is leased for agricultural use.

The Hillside Estates property is owned by Boulder County, which follows its own policy, but is not immune to controversy. Schwartz said the county has heard from neighbors who are against moving the prairie dogs and those who are in favor, some complaining that more weeds are blowing into their yards in the Somerset development.

Schwartz said the county didn't capture all the prairie dogs they hoped because of the vandalism. She isn't sure whether the county will resume trapping this year.