Do you have ideas on what the Town of Superior, Colorado, should do with its excess prairie dogs?

Superior, Colorado - Unwanted prairie dogs whose burrows pockmark the shale slopes of a man-made wetland are creating a dilemma for the Town Board.

A few years ago, the solution would have been simple: relocate the animals.

But Boulder County Open Space is full, the city of Boulder stopped taking the animals almost two years ago, and Superior has no open space of its own.

"It's hard to relocate them these days because no one will take them anymore," said Margaret Parish, a member of Superior's open space advisory committee.

Developers of the Rock Creek neighborhood left a pond in the narrow basin of a drainage area to fulfill the federal mandate of preserving wetlands.

The prairie dog population is expanding in the area, overgrazing the wetlands and causing erosion.

"Maintaining our wetlands or permitting a species is going to be a really tough call," said committee member Bob McCool.

And residents have been complaining for years that the critters burrow underneath fences into manicured lawns.

"We've had residents downright angry that we weren't doing anything about the prairie dogs," said Juanita Dominguez, director of parks and recreation.

Now, the town is considering a $22,000 project to trap the rodents and ship them as frozen food to recovering or endangered prairie predators.

Ecological consultant Chris Roe suggested the idea.

"It will help them do some good, fill their natural ecological function," Roe said.

But animal activists say the situation is an inherent outcome when subdivisions meet wildlife.

"It's a problem up and down the Front Range," said Dave Crawford of Rocky Mountain Animal Defense. "We build roads, and we build houses, and we build box stores. And then we say we have no room for our prairie dogs, no room for our natural wildlife."

The problem of the prairie dog in Boulder County -- where protesters have been known to gather when landowners legally poison them -- is a microcosm of urbanization, said Todd Malmsbury of the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

Preserving pockets of the prairie dog population may save individual animals, but without a great expanse of land, the species will not proliferate.

Although prairie dog numbers are far below historical highs, recent counts show more animals than once was thought.

"There is not an imminent threat of disappearing," Malmsbury said. "Quite the contrary."

State incentive programs encourage landowners to protect the prairie dogs, but it is rare for commissioners to approve their transfer over county lines.

In Jefferson County, there is no space for Superior's prairie dogs, either.

"We all understand they are a part of the ecosystem that we live in," spokeswoman Thea Rock said. "It can become emotional, but we have to rely on our good science, which tells us how to best deal with the prairie dogs."

At this point in Superior, that may mean trapping the animals and euthanizing them with carbon dioxide.

Animal-rights activists completely disagree.

"We all rush to a death sentence for them for their simple effort to survive," Crawford said.

The fate of the Rock Creek prairie dogs is undecided as of yet: The Superior Town Board [of Trustees] http://www.townofsuperior.com/trustees.htm will consider what to do -- if anything -- with the animals from the pond areas.

McCool said members of his committee are glad they are not the last word.

"It's really an issue I'm glad I'm not faced with, making the final decision," he said.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2268676,00.html

Do you have ideas on what the Town of Superior, Colorado, should do with its excess prairie dogs?

Contact them:

Town of Superior

124 E. Coal Creek Drive

Superior, Colorado 80027

303-499-3675

Fax: 303-499-3677

http://www.townofsuperior.com/email.php?name=Board+of+Trust