The Little People Speak

A lot of people think that prairie dogs are pests and need to be exterminated.  They think they are just simple rodents that are annoying.  But when they call up the exterminators it is a lot more like committing murder than they might think. Prairie dogs are so much more like humans.  They will hug and kiss and care for their babies more like humans do than any other animal I know of.  But when they start speaking when you are killing them, that is crossing the line. (Click here for an article from the Io9 online magazine that has lot of interesting details about prairie dog speech.)

Scientists have proved that prairie dogs chirp at different frequencies depending on what they are saying.  They will say "cat" as loud as they can, and then other prairie dogs will come out of the ground and stand up on their hind legs and yell "cat." This signals other prairie dogs to do the same until the whole town is standing up on their hind legs and yelling "cat" (in prairie dog language).  Then, if a dog comes along, the same thing will happen but with a diffident sounding chirp. Of course the difference is so small that humans cannot hear it, but the fine-tuned ears of the prairie dog can, as well of course as the fine-tuned ear of the scientists' equipment.

Why are there laws against killing wildlife and especially human murder but not laws against causing the painful death of animals so much like us?