Colorado Prairie Dog Shoot OKd
Prairie dogs, reviled by farmers and ranchers but adored by some urban-dwellers, will be used as targets for hunters in southwestern Colorado this summer.
Fifty teams of two hunters each will participate in the Top Dog First Annual World Championship Prairie Dog Shoot on July 14-15. Plans for the shoot, announced two weeks ago, drew protests from animal rights activists, Gov. Roy Romer and U.S. Rep. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D-Colo.).
Because of the protests, organizers agreed to hold a “prairie dog plebiscite” among area residents Thursday night. The prairie dogs came out the big losers.
About 320 residents of two small towns showed up for a town meeting, and only four people voted against the shoot.
“All I can tell Campbell and Romer is: ‘Buzz off,’ ” Nucla Mayor John Vanderpool said after the vote.
Romer, who said the shoot was inhumane and would give Colorado a bad image, said before the plebiscite that he would abide by the vote. Campbell had suggested that the animals be killed humanely and then organizers hold a prairie dog cook-off.
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