Prairie dog information – learn about protecting this keystone species

Prairie dogs are central to healthy grasslands in North America, sustaining entire wildlife communities on western prairies. Intriguing animals, they maintain close-knit social groups and communicate with their own complex language.

Unfortunately, these fascinating and ecologically vital creatures suffer from endless persecution. Victims of intense government extermination efforts in the past century, prairie dogs continue to be gunned down, poisoned, bulldozed, and plowed under. Plague, introduced to the Americas in the late 1800s, is also taking a devastating toll: a plague outbreak can wipe out 85 to 99 percent of prairie dogs in a colony. Prairie dog plague does not pose a threat to humans. The result of these threats: all five species of prairie dogs are biologically imperiled, with most occupying less than five percent of their historic ranges. And as prairie dogs decline, so does the myriad wildlife that benefit from prairie dog colonies.

Guardians is working to educate communities about the importance of prairie dogs to healthy grassland ecosystems and help them coexist with their prairie dog neighbors.  We also work to ensure that Endangered Species Act protection for other wildlife in the Prairie Dog Empire, such as black-footed ferrets, is effective on the ground. We seek to raise awareness of the importance of these species by honoring prairie dogs in a multitude of ways, including redefining Groundhog Day as “Prairie Dog Day” in the West. We are also working to create safe refuges for prairie dogs on private and public lands. Our advocacy for prairie dogs will continue until they are recognized and protected as intelligent, social creatures with a key role in the prairie ecosystem.