http://www.peta-online.org/alert/00/356.html
On May 8, Colorado Horse Rescue (CHR), a nonprofit group
that rehabilitates neglected and abandoned horses and promotes their
adoptions, stunned local community members, animal protectionists, and
Boulder County officials by poisoning hundreds of prairie dogs living on
CHR's
50-acre site. A complaint from a whistleblower prompted county zoning
inspector Ed Meacham to visit its facility, where he immediately ordered
contractors to stop the poisoning. Volunteers from Rocky Mountain Animal
Defense, PETA, and Wild Places then spent hours digging out the poisoned
burrows, trying to save some of the animals, while CHR staff and
volunteers stood by joking. No prairie dogs, including this spring's
babies, survived the assault.
The massacre was hideously cruel. Graham Billingsley,
director of the county's Land Use Department said contractors hired by
CHR stuffed the prairie dog holes with newspaper soaked with poison. The
exterminators then packed the holes with rocks and dirt, trapping the
animals underground. The poison, aluminum phosphide, causes the animals
to bleed internally and die in excruciating pain over the course of
several days.
CHR received approval from Boulder County to move their
operation to the site on the condition that the land would be
revegetated to prevent dust and soil erosion, conditions worsened by
horse grazing. Officials from the Colorado Division of Wildlife said
they believed that the prairie dogs would be protected on the
property�as part of an officially supported revegetation project, the
state spent more than $2,300 reseeding 35 acres with native grasses and
trees last summer. The project was meant to create wildlife habitat for
deer, rabbits, foxes, and prairie dogs. Astonishingly, many of the
animals who were poisoned had been previously relocated on the property
in order to make room for CHR's new buildings.
Prairie-dog populations in the U.S. have plummeted to 1
to 2 percent of their original numbers as a result of rampant poisoning
and bulldozing, unrestricted development, and hunting. The U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service has declared prairie dogs "warranted" for listing under
the Endangered Species Act but "precluded" from listing because of other
priorities (and politics).
CHR officials claim that they cannot revegetate the
property without killing prairie dogs, however, Colorado Division of
Wildlife officials are confident that revegetation can occur without
harming the animals. CHR representatives also claim that horses can
break their legs in prairie-dog holes.
However, no such case has ever been documented among grazing horses
(i.e., horses who are not being ridden or driven).
For more information, please contact Rocky Mountain
Animal Defense at 303-449-4422 or via e-mail at
[email protected]
From: [email protected]
(Trevor Chin)
Go on to Veganopoly
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