Prairie dogs

So, yeah, definitely worth accounting for.

Yeah, well, I mean, even four rifles, because Mikey, when I was shooting those prairie dogs, you know, 200 yards, I'm holding dead on, and I'm shooting over the prairie dog.

Yeah, I actually didn't believe Sawyer when he said, I'm holding right on him.

And I was like, man, that shouldn't be the case.

We were sitting in the bottom, so the field rose up.

So we were shooting back into a little hill.

And we shot some pretty good prairie dogs.

It was a good time.

So we're going to keep going no matter how bonkers it is.

And, um, I haven't found out a way to work in the prairie dogs yet, but we must work in the prairie dogs because they're such an important part of Frostbite.

They

are.

They do a good job of showing me who Raylene is throughout the book.

because she loves those little guys.

And, you know, I guess we don't have prairie dogs around here, but I guess like squirrels would be the sort of equivalent for where I live, where like... yeah i love watching those guys play there's a squirrel who's been eating the little um maple seeds off my tree and he's been like hanging upside down from his rear legs and then grabbing uh and it's so cute and i love those guys and i would i you know i i don't like it i don't like to see them roadkill on the road and i don't like i would feel very bad if i had to start taking a golf club to a bunch of them

I know.

Hey, thanks for joining us today, everybody, and happy Thursday.

In a Colorado Parks and Wildlife meeting next week, commissioners are scheduled to discuss a ban on the recreational shooting of prairie dogs.

A national animal welfare organization has filed a petition to end the practice in Colorado.

It's yet another example of the widening divide between hunting and animal agricultural groups who want it to continue and and wildlife welfare groups who want it abolished.

Tracy, we've been talking about a lot of these CPW issues lately, it seems.

Let's get into this one.

Can you talk about how the hunting of prairie dogs works right now and who this group is that wants to end it in Colorado?

Sure.

CHAPTER III.

THE RESCUE OF THE YOUNG PRAIRIE DOG It was in June, and the longest day of the year.

Annie was out on the prairie looking for wild strawberries, for it was about the time they ripen in South Dakota.

Suddenly, as she stooped to pick a cluster of big berries, she was startled by hearing a pitiful little squeak, and looking down at her feet, she saw a rabbit trap, partially hidden by grass and flowers, with a young prairie dog caught in it by the paw.

As the little creature looked up at her with its wild bright eyes, the expression of fear and pain in them went straight to the girl's kind heart.

"'Oh, you poor little thing! I will set you free!' she cried.

Now happened something that was exceedingly strange.

Annie's other wild pets, the gopher and the prairie hens, would not even stay to look upon the stranger, but appeared so afraid that Annie was surprised.

I said, "I used to stop in Fairmont, Minnesota, to visit the prairie dog exhibit." It was created and sustained by the Fairmont Exchange Club with the help of others, of course.

I enjoyed seeing the prairie dogs.

Prairie dogs are the jack-in-the-boxes of the natural world.

They pop up and go back down.

The exhibit closed for assorted reasons, but I recall it fondly and still think of it when I get over around that area.

And as the stranger came into view, the animals of Dry Gulch stopped what they were doing.

Prairie Dog squinted toward the horizon.

Jackrabbit's ears shot straight up.

Roadrunner froze in his tracks because ambling toward town was a Gila monster.

Roadrunner gulped.

[gulps] "I've heard about those."

"Me too," said Prairie Dog.

"I heard they're venomous." [tense music] Jackrabbit's eyes widened.

Well, um, can...

A pr- what are prairie dogs?

They don't sweat.

What about them?

Like, it was like, "That's cool.

That looks funny."

Do you know you can make them, you can make them do a howl as well? That's why they're called prairie dogs-

Oh, really?