PRAIRIE DOGS

WASHINGTON D.C.­­The National Wildlife Federation on June 26, 2002 asked the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to protect blacktailed prairie dogs throughout its holdings, but continued to withhold any denunciation of the 2002 Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation "gopher" derby, which killed more than 63,000 blacktailed prairie dogs and Richardson's ground squirrels.

The SWF is an affiliate of the Canadian Wildlife Federation, which shares programs and policies with NWF.

Seven other U.S. conservation groups in early July asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list whitetailed prairie dogs as a threatened species. Utah and Mexican prairie dogs are already listed as a threatened species, and the Fish and Wildlife Service has acknowledged that blacktailed prairie dogs are eligible for listing, but has not assigned them a high priority on the waiting list of candidate species.

Pressured by ranchers and prairie dog shooters, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission on July 24 voted 5-1 against protecting prairie dogs on state lands.