On Wednesday morning I saw something that made my heart sink. The prairie dog colony next to Oskar Blues had little red flags all over it, one flag at the entrance to each burrow. Soon I received word that they were in the process of poisoning the colony and packing the burrow entrances with dirt so the prairie dogs couldn’t get out before the effects of the poison doomed them.

The poison that is used is phosphine gas which causes them to bleed out slowly over days, suffering a long prolonged and very painful death. Anyone who knows anything about this poison knows it is a horrific way to die. There is nothing humane about it. And now the entire colony, little families all together because they live in family groups, is dying slow agonizing deaths. If we could actually witness what they are going through, if we could hear their cries, most people (I would hope) would be horrified and demand a different solution. But it happens underground, out of sight. Everyone just drives by, going about their normal routines, oblivious to the nightmare holocaust scenario that is going on just a few feet away from the road. Down in the darkness, the prairie dog families are buried alive, crying in pain, bleeding out, their blood soaking the ground.

What a horrid species we can show ourselves to be when we choose to treat our fellow earthlings, innocent and defenseless animals who have never done us any harm, with such cold-blooded callous brutality. Shame on the landowner who authorized this and the people who applied the poison. Shame on the county and the politicians who have blocked attempts to relocate prairie dog so that they won’t be killed. This business as usual practice has got to end.

Anna Rivas

Longmont