Prairie Dogs, Love/Hate, Euphemisms, Plague, and a Heroine
What can you say. It's complicated. I like to have them around, making bare unused lots more interesting by their presence, such as the vacant lots between I-27 and Ave. A or those near the Walmart at 6th & R. Or colonies in the Canyon Lakes parks.
Back about 2011 when I rode a bike to Walmart and had to yield to a prairie dog caught in the street at Ave. R and 10th between a car and me, I enjoyed the moment. Glad the little feller got home safe that day.
To me, the Canyon Lakes colonies look more like a real prairie dog town than the weedy desolate patch enclosed in walls that the city of Lubbock miscalls "Prairie Dog Town."
That prairie dogs are among the rodents that carry plague doesn't bother me at all. https://youtu.be/5nsm9cgHmvo [Reminds me of the way a TTUHSC prof was pilloried for transporting plague bacillus on a commercial airplane. Ha. Want bubonic plague? Buy rat traps and go trap rodents in eastern NM. The plague bacillus is always with us, not far away. Live with it, as we've been doing all along. Last I heard the medical school prof was out of prison and working at the University of Riyadh; hopefully they appreciated him there.]
Of course I am not among those who like to ride horses at the Canyon Lakes parks, and I don't have P-dogs trying to colonize my yard. Or maybe not. Something dug a burrow under some cholla cactus several years ago and left droppings, but I think that was a rabbit there, until the cats or the fox caught it.
The poisoning bothers me, just as lethal injection of condemned humans does. Better to be shot or killed by predators in my opinion, for humans or prairie dogs. And if Lubbock urbanites are disturbed by hunters firing .22s, then they can just put up with the prairie dogs.
And I sure as hell don't approve of calling killing "removal," as here: http://www.lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2016-07-21/danger-sign-east-lubbock-park-prompted-prairie-dog-removal Too easy to use euphemisms to disguise facts and make uncomfortable situations more palatable, no? Easy road to lie to oneself, no?
The recent history is this. Back after the year 2000, prairie dogs had colonized the farmland the city was spraying treated sewage water on, and there was panic about nitrates contaminating the water table because they could run down prairie dog burrows instead of percolating through the full depth of the soil. The Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission blamed prairie dogs for the subterranean nitrate levels. The city decided extermination was the way to go. [So let's get this straight; there was worry about nitrates contaminating the water table, but it's okay to use poison?] https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2002-10-18/106246/
Enter Lynda Watson, prairie dog removal specialist. And that is removal as in capture and relocate, not removal as in kill or exterminate. Lynda Watson has been one of the most famous Lubbock-area residents for over 15 years. For more on the fascinating Ms. Watson -- they really ought to make a movie out of her life -- see
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Texas-prairie-dog-catcher-enjoys-fame-2099143.php
https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0813/p03s01-usgn.html
https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/git-along/
Texas Country Reporter at https://youtu.be/UcTjGcm7-7A
and in a 2017 update, http://marfapublicradio.org/blog/nature-notes/conserving-a-keystone-species-lynda-watson-is-the-prairie-dog-lady-of-west-texas/
Trouble is, capturing prairie dogs is work-intensive, doesn't pay much, only a sample of a big colony can be saved, and there is always the question of what to do with P-dogs captured. And who volunteers to live the hard life of Ms. Watson? How do YOU feel about sticking your arm down a prairie dog hole? And keep in mind you need to be able to feel the p-dogs so no gloves. A job for would-be catfish noodlers, no?
Is there a humane solution? Other than spraying prairie dog burrows with birth control hormones, I don't think there is. But for the sake of honesty, let's do away with the euphemisms.
Comentarios
@billarbon, please meet your Llano Estacado counterpart!
If anybody is moved by the current (2018) cruel and unnecessary poisoning of our prairie dogs, please sign this petition:
https://www.thepetitionsite.com/157/897/170/black-tailed-prairie-dogs-gassed-in-lubbock-tx-by-city-officials/
I think the opinions of prospective visitors to our city should carry some weight, since the city markets our prairie dogs as a tourist attraction:
http://www.visitlubbock.org/prairie-dog-town-2/
Done.
If I were taking a visitor to see prairie dogs, and I have, it would not be to Prairie Dog Town. The colonies east of MLK around Lake #6 shows them in a more natural habitat, and not like prisoners in a barren walled enc ylosure.
Or, go to Lubbock Lakesite Landmark. When I drove there for class Saturday morning, I almost ran over a p-dog. Seems there is actually a burrow opening IN the road pavement, and the rascal ran into the road to jump into its burrow.
Prairie Dog Town IS frequented by tourists. Back when I was not too scared to ride my bike, my weekend loops would include the uphill climb to Prairie Dog Town where I'd stop for a drink. Most of the time there would be one or two cars parked there. I felt like grabbing the gawkers and telling them, "Forget this. Go south 2 miles where you can see healthy prairie dogs living in the open."
Back when the Talk Lubbock forum existed, we had threads on prairie dogs, started by me or others. There was general support for not poisoning the animals, and the threads got a lot of views.
Part of the problem is this: Certain folks at the city put ACTION in their playbook; instead of dilly-dallying around and letting popular opinion build, don't talk bout it, JUST DO IT and it's a fait accompli.
Example: what I call "the War Against the Homeless." There is a little triangular park just east of the public library between Avenues K & L at about 9th St. There was a nice little concrete patio in the center with plants, benches, and a pergola for shade. Well, the homeless started staying there. It is a fact that the wood of the concrete-based benches and of the pergola had aged and maybe needed maintenance. With minimal notice the bulldozers moved in, destroying not just the wooden parts of the patio but removing the garden beds and the concrete patio and even the sidewalks leading up to it! Now it is just grass, no seating, no shade, no landscaping. There are no homeless there.
The park west of the civic center had the West Texas Music Walk of Fame along with a huge fountain and the civic center marquee. But the Buddy Holly statue was moved, and the fountain needed replumbing. And many who were homeless congregated there, enjoying the benches and the shade. Guess what happened. The city declared that estimates for fixing the fountain were too high, and that it needed to be torn down. [I believed the fountain could be restored to function at minimal cost by putting new water lines outside the structure and camouflaging them.] So, when they demolished the fountain they removed ALL improvements in that little park, including trees, benches around the walk of fame, even the sidewalks. And now the only homeless are passing by on foot.
The CCC/WPA built Lubbock's first public swimming pool, at Mackenzie park. Some of my earliest memories were of that pool and of the peacocks running free around it. For years the structure including empty pool stayed there, enclosed by a fence. Well, the decision was made to build a new animal control center, with the only question being where. One proposal was to build it at the site of the old pool. Before any decision was made on that, the bulldozers came, and one of the city's more historic locations was obliterated. The new animal control building was put elsewhere, and there is a barren caliche spot marking where the old pool was.
I thought it was one particular city manager that was doing all this, but the last round of prairie dog poisoning in 2016 up to now was on another city manager's shift.
Another example of the "fait accompli" policy was the plan to build a visitor's center. The city acquired the half block west of the old Burlington depot for that purpose while the debate pro and con raged on. In the meantime the city was the landlord for the night clubs in the buildings located in that designated half block. There was much opposition, both to a high-dollar visitor's center, and to putting it there, where there were going businesses that claimed they had a contract that would allow them to purchase their buildings. [I argued for information kiosks along each major entrance to the city.]
You guessed it. Eviction, and immediately after the bulldozers arrived. No more discussion.
The desolate lots were there for a while, blowing sand and returning nothing in rent, until old radio personality and city councilman Paul Beane had a pow-wow with the widow of Buddy Holly, and low and behold a deal was struck to build a park on those lots, to be named "The Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Park," along with specified uses of the Buddy Holly name. Suddenly there was no more talk about a visitor's center, and those who pushed it did not mention it again.
The fait accompli may not be democratic, but it does get things done.
@thebark: Sounds so familiar. Government agencies and their henchmen way too often take action knowing full well transparency would allow opposition to build and the task delayed. In the meantime, many more harmful and costly actions are taken such as removing true historical landmarks and other important cultural/natural areas. Ugly.
Agregar un comentario