I have issues against the SLAUGHTER of Innocent Prairie Dogs. 

Prairie dogs ruining groundwater supply

LUBBOCK - The city of Lubbock is considering bids on ways to thin out a booming prairie dog population that the state says is threatening to contaminate the area's groundwater.

An inspector with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission issued a citation after determining that overgrazing and burrowing by prairie dogs at Lubbock's wastewater application farm is threatening to contaminate soil and groundwater.

"What we don't want is water percolating far down below the root zone of the crops," said Pat Cooke, the inspector. "If there are no crops, then there's no root uptake."

John Hindman, land application manager at the farm, estimates the prairie dog population to be in the thousands.

"It's got to the point now where it's getting serious," he said. "We've got to do something."

The city has sought bids for a prairie dog eradication plan that probably will involve poisoning the animals, which sell for $100 apiece in local pet stores. A trapper removed more than 400 prairie dog pups earlier this year for sale in pet stores. Hindman said trapping has failed to curb the population.

The city applies treated sewage effluent daily on about 750 acres of pastureland east of the city. One area has become so heavily grazed by prairie dogs that pivot sprinklers are spraying effluent on bare dirt, city officials say.

The effluent is municipal sewer water that has been treated to remove most biocontaminants but still contains nitrate. Under a permit with the TNRCC, the city applies the effluent on grassy areas to absorb and dissolve the nitrate. Without sufficient vegetation, nitrate levels can become too high.



Prairie dogs granted temporary reprieve

The prairie dogs wreaking environmental havoc on acreage Lubbock uses to apply wastewater have a winged savior - if only temporarily.

The city, in a plan submitted to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, wants to wait until the end of the year when burrowing owls migrate before possibly having to kill thousands of prairie dogs .

In June, the state agency told city officials to come up with a plan to stop the prairie dogs - known to many as a symbol of the South Plains - from overgrazing and burrowing that was threatening to contaminate groundwater.

The plan was due to the state agency last week.

The city is considering hiring a commercial relocator who would become part of efforts that have been going on since the state cited the city.

"We'll just have to evaluate the costs," Richard Burdine, Lubbock's assistant city manager, said of hiring a relocator. "We're going to be doing that in pretty short order."

Burdine estimated that 40,000 of the animals need to be removed from the site.

"We want to be very cautious about the burrowing owl," said Jim Estes, regional director for the state agency. "If it wasn't for the burrowing owl, the city would have already been out there, as well as the prairie dog being an emotional issue in this part of the county."

The owls, protected as a migratory bird, do not use the prairie dogs ' burrows to live but use vacant ones to lay their eggs.

The control measures the city will use - chemicals or concussion methods - will not be used until the owls leave, giving trappers and volunteers about six more months to remove the animals alive.

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