Prairie Dog Greenbelt Update #1 Turned Dirt, Crosses, More Writing, One left?

crosses are here

I just wanted to do a quick update about what has been happening with the local greenbelt.   After the prairie dogs were exterminated for a second time the city turned all the dirt, killing all the wonderful plants. I know that most of the plants there were invasive and non-native, but still. Is it just me or does it seem wrong to kill so many oxygen makers? Please leave a comment if you can.
previously beautiful, green, living (etc.…) field near my neighborhood is now but a sea of brown (yet fluffy) dirt.

The Brown Graveyard

While walking down the path the other day, I was near tears. All the wonderful life was gone, like an empty playground in the middle of summer. It seemed apoptolictic (is that the word for apocalypse-like?)turning around the corner  my heart lept. There was a large-ish gathering of crosses. There were quite a few (like around twenty, maybe more) Big burly crosses, some of which said things like “we sacrificed” or something. There was one big cross that said “prairie dogs poisoned by Lakewood city officials” And next to the bigger, nicer, Crosses; there was a small gathering of crosses that I had put out a while ago. I would like to thank every single person who helped with the crosses.  We all appreciate you! 

Okay another thing I wanted to talk about: as I’m guessing many of you know I blogged a lot last December, almost a year ago. But not much this year! I’m thinking of writing more, so if you want to be able to see everything as soon as it comes out please enter your email into the box on the top of this page, (where it says “email address” then “submit”) and press that submit button, that will make you become a follower of the blog! :D

Here is the last thing I wanted to mention:  If you walk down the path that my apartment overlooks, you will see a large brown field, but there may be a slightly lighter dot, one that is moving around, often looking over the destruction.  I think this may be the last prairie dog left. If anyone sees him/her can you comment?  I will look into relocating this little guy/girl, it must be heart crushing to be him/her…

Again thank you all for that page view you just gave me! I love you all! :D

---Cymbre Arwen Smith

"Living on Burrowed Time" Prairie Dog Gala Overview

I'm guessing some of you have seen my last three posts that I did live from the Living On Burrowed Time gala. It was a really fun thing to do, even though they were really short. 

So first  I think I need to explain why the gala did not happen a really long time ago.  I'm guessing most of you heard about the 100-500 year flood that happened in Colorado recently. Well the flood reached the place that the gala was going to be so it had to be canceled.   Also most of the prairie dog coalition that runs it lived in Boulder and were busy either getting the water out of their own house or saving prairie dogs from being drowned in the water.   So it was rescheduled to Saturday.

I know I was going to interview as many people as I could but everything was really busy and no one looked like they really wanted to be interviewed (shorthand for me being too shy to ask anyone).  Now that I a thinking about it afterward I feel really bad for not interviewing anyone, and not asking permission to blog what anyone said...

So I'm just going to do a quick overview of what happened two days ago:

My earings hanging on a glass

I arrived a few minutes after reception started in my fancy dress and my handmade (by me) prairie dog angel earrings and my (also handmade by me) angel prairie dog necklace.  I had my mobile blogging unit (smartphone) in my moms old fancy purse  because my phone carrier was sort of dirty… The whole drive there I was terrified that I would be over/under dressed or that I would be "the little kid" in the crowd (you know what I am talking about fellow children!) You see, I never go to fancy things so I have very little experience in this subject.

I walked in the front door my fears being amplified 20x from all the people in completely casual clothing.  I felt really out of place, worried that no one would talk to me because I was dressed oddly.  Then we walked up  to the gala check in desk, my mom and I got our name tags and bidding numbers. As soon as we turned the corner over to the gala and away from the people staying at the hotel, my fears completely disappeared, every single person was dressed wonderfully fancy and super nice.My mom and I walked around looking at all the things and looking for Lindsey Sterling Krank, the director of the prairie dog coalition.  We found her and gave her another prairie dog angel necklace/Christmas ornament/thingy. She was very happy!

My necklace on a silver chain

Dr. Slobodchikoff and me

We searched around the silent auction that was going on before the dinner started.  I checked out the VIP lounge that apparently I had been on the list of, (I wish I hadn't forgot, it would have been fun to get there for the VIP reception that started an hour early).  Inside was Con Slobodchikoff who it was just amazing to be in the same room as, his work is legendary and amazing.  I got to tell him I was a big fan and take a picture with him! It was so cool!!!  

After that my mom and I bid on some things we wanted, she really wanted a juicer and was the top bid until just before the auction ended, when someone else out bid her. I bid on a prairie quilt, and the two books by Dr. Con Slobodchikoff, both were signed.  My mom also decided to go half and half on a wonderful set of hand blown Christmas ornaments (a present for my dad).

After that I got to talk to a few interesting people throughout the crowd.   I got a stuffed prairie dog (like a toy, not an actual dead prairie dog that was stuffed so it could be decoration , I hate those, yuck) I'm still working on a name for her. 

Nameless the Prairie Dog

Now this is cool: I was walking to check if I was still on the top bid for my books when someone dropped a stuffed prairie dog that was like mine. I quickly picked it up and gave it to her, saying that she had dropped it (actually I picked it up and looked around, then someone pointed to her and took it form me and gave it to her then pointed me out).  She was very grateful and we started talking. She turned out to be Lisa Morzel mayor pro-tem of Boulder!! (a city council member that is mayor when there is an election going on or something similar that means that the mayor is unavailable).  I got her card!

After all that the dinner started (well actually it started a little while later, but that time was just full of me standing around occasionally chatting with people. A lot of people complemented my earrings/necklace and said I should make them for the silent auction next year).

There were some cool people at the table that I was sitting at. I forgot to ask any of them if I could put them in my blog so I'm not going to give any details!  After we ate for a little while people started getting up on stage and talking about prairie dogs and people who helped them. They gave out some awards and then Dr Slobodchikoff started talking about his research, it is really amazing!

Then the live auction started,  the speed that the guy was talking was truly amazing, and headache inducing!

After watching for a little while someone else at the table went to get their silent auction winnings.  Being reminded by that my mom and I went to get our things. It turns out that the only thing that we won were the signed books (chasing doctor Doolittle and Prairie Dogs)

Around that time the thing ended. People started leaving the building and getting ready to go.

I'm so happy  that I was not over dressed. I am also so happy that so many people are so passionate about prairie dogs!!! Thank you all

Live long planet earth and the prairie dogs

---Cymbre Arwen Smith

Fast talking: Praire Dog Gala, Update #3

Wow, I'm at the live auction right now. This guy is talking really fast! And lots of really cool really expensive things...

Dinner: Prairie Dog Gala, Update #2

Just a quick update. I'm at dinner, so yeah... Everyone is wonderful here. The nicest people, so many vegans!

Slobodchikoff and me, gala update #1

I'm writing a quick blog post in my phone. I'll explain why this its not a lot earlier when I'm not trying to type on a phone. But anyway for the next few hours whenever anything cool happens I will post.
I just got to chat with Con S.! And take a picture with him! So cool!
I'll post a pic when I get home.


Edit:
Home now, Here is the picture of him and me:

Con Slobodchikoff, Ph.D. And Me

Living on burrowed time gala

Friday is the annual living on burrowed time gala!!! My mom and I both have tickets and I am super exited to meet everyone there! Anyone who is going who might like to meet up at the gala with me please email me at cymbresmith5@gmail.com I would love to meet anyone and everyone!!!

Unfortunately I am guessing most of you will not be going to the gala (I think about 50% of my readers are from countries other than the US) but for this group of people never fear, a blogger is here! (Note to self, don’t try to rhyme in public) But anyway I am going to be interviewing as many people that I can at the gala. Also I will be reporting every last detail I can, on this blog.  

 I’m hoping that after reading the blog post after the gala more locals will go next year, and end up getting more money for the prairie dogs!

Long Live Planet Earth and the Prairie dogs!!!

---Cymbre Arwen Smith

The Tiny People Die, AGAIN!!!

Lately my little section of the world involving prairie dogs has been happy. A few weeks ago the city and one volunteer relocated fifty three prairie dogs from the town near my house.  Today I was walking down that wonderful trail a bit sad from the lack of prairie dogs, but happy that they all found a great new home in some other field that is better size for them.

But then I saw them. Large tractor like things sitting on the middle of the field on the tractors there were large tanks with tubes leading down into prairie dog holes. Men were moving the tubes from hole to hole. A woman walked up to my mom and me and said that they were gassing the remaining prairie dogs. Turns out that there were estimated to be sixty three prairie dogs left in the holes that they were gassing right at that moment. A Lakewood city truck went in front of us;  we asked the man in it to talk with us, which he did. After we had talked with him for a little while, a small crowd gathered. I feel bad for the poor guy, having to make a really tough decision to kill the tiny people and getting yelled at by a bunch of people all in one day.

The man was trying to look at all sides of the argument. Prairie dogs being a keystone species, prairie dogs allowing invasive plants from Europe to grow in the field that used to be pure short grass prairie, and prairie dogs having too many tunnels for other animals like voles. I am just happy that he did not bring up prairie dogs having plague (a complete lie).

The man said that he had put up signs around the field saying that relocation efforts were happening and that there was going to be a gassing soon. Everyone in the small group of people that had gathered said that they never saw the signs.

I feel as if the latest death is possibly my fault. If I had not been lazy and had written about the relocation on my blog or something, then I feel as if more people would have shown up and helped with the relocation. While only one person actually volunteered (Marc Ayoub was the one who volunteered, he was the other person who spoke about the prairie dogs at the city council meeting last December) I didn’t help because I was out of town when they were doing the relocations.

Please if there is anything you can think of to help the prairie dogs, such as commenting on this post if a town near you is going to/already has been/be poisoned or killed in any way, or sharing this post to a friend, or just telling a friend about the prairie dogs and their humanish ways.

I’m going to stop writing this post for now. My hand is starting to hurt from rapid typing and I am starting to cry, I’m guessing many of you know how hard it is to write and cry. Thank you so much for reading this blog, and for loving the tiny people! I love you all so much, thank you for making me stronger from that page-view you just gave me! JJJ

We Can All Do Good

A few months ago a bunch of little children died in a mass shooting in Connecticut. I am sure that most of my American readers heard about that (and some of my foreign readers too) it was all over the news. Also those girls who were locked in this guy’s house as slaves, all over the news. Everything bad that happens on this planet is “all over the news.” Lately I have been realizing that all the good things that happen are barely on the news at all. I bet most of you have never heard that Costa Rica’s power comes 95% from renewable resources and they plan to be carbon neutral by 2021. I bet most of you have never heard about the teenage boy who is working on and succeeding with making prosthetic arms. I bet most of you do not know about this twelve year old girl who is working on making a devise to fix brain conditions.

Because the actioney stuff with death and guns is so much more interesting (not really) all the news channels, and newspapers, and internet news sites have very little about Costa Rica’s energy, teenagers making prosthetic limbs and twelve year olds making brain implants they have so much about death and destruction.

All this about the death and destruction teaches people that anyone just anyone can go out there into the world and do bad. They can call up the exterminators to kill their local prairie dog town, they can litter, they can buy a gun, and they can kill this planet. But what the news does not tell us is that we can also go out there and do good. Every single one of us, not just activists and Girl Scout troops: everyone from little kids to seniors can do their part, from leaders to workers, interns to multi-billionaires. Everyone can do their part in saving the world. You do not need to be special, you can save the world!

If one person reading this picked up one piece of trash and told three others to pick up one piece of trash and only two of those three picked up a piece of trash and told three others soon enough the world would be trash free. Same with donating to charity or giving a homeless person your spare change, your imagination is the limit! I am telling this to quite a few people around the world right now, please just please can one or two of you become a world saver? If you spread the word to save the world please +1 this or comment down there \/ underneath this blog post saying what you did to help this planet. Together we can save the prairie dogs! Together we can save planet earth!!!

Prairie Dog Talk

The other day I was doing one of my weekly walks through the prairie dog town. The prairie dogs seem to be doing well! Not as many of them as there used to be, but it is looking fine!  Then I heard it, a prairie dog just mimicked a hawk call! He (or she) stood up on his (or her) hind legs and opened his (or her) little mouth and I heard a sharp long hawk call! It was amazing! I knew that they had lots of words but not that they would mimic other animals!

                                 

I ran home as fast as I could. I quickly opened up my computer, turned it on, and started researching prairie dog language. There is nowhere on the Internets that I could find anything written about prairie dogs mimicking hawks. It could have been something that they just learned to do but more likely a hawk passed nearby when the prairie dog chirped and I heard the hawk over the chirp. Though I did find this article about prairie dog language It is really neat how humans can hear the difference between two different words in prairie dog speak! Maybe someday we will be able to speak in their complex language! We could communicate with these wondrous beings!

Con Slobodchikoff

Con Slobodchikoff did a lot of work on prairie dog language. He has a special computer program that breaks down noises. He uses it to analyze prairie dog “chees” (chirps).  Here’s how he works: he gets people to walk through a prairie dog town and looks at what the prairie dogs say in response to the people. Though the word for “human” is quite different than the words for other predators, it varies quite a bit from human to human. He had an idea about what the different chirps were; the prairie dogs were describing people! He did a lot of tests with people wearing different colored clothing and of different heights and weights.

Slobodchikoff did another test where he built two wooden towers, each at one end of a prairie dog town. He strung a wire between them. He hung three cardboard cutouts on the wire.   One was a triangle, one was a circle, and the other was a square. The prairie dogs seemed to be able to tell the difference between the triangle and the circle but not the circle and square. He said this is because the triangle looks like one type of predator and the circle and the square look like another type of predator.

What if prairie dogs are much more advanced than humans and have their own computers and buildings and stuff? Maybe they have a whole civilization underground. Would it not be wonderful to know that humans are not alone in being intelligent? Some people even say that prairie dogs worship god. They are really not too different from us; actually they are quite a bit like us! It is amazing to think about and I could spend hours rambling on about how they could be aliens come here to study us or could not even know we are more than an odd stupid humanoid that will attack them; but I think I have filled this post with enough information for now. Again thank you for reading and goodbye!

The Black Footed Ferret

Black footed ferrets

One of the main problems with exterminating prairie dogs is the fact that the loss of prairie dogs ends up killing other animals as well. One example: the black-footed ferret. it completely depends on prairie dogs to survive. It does not know how to make its own home so it uses prairie dog homes. And the only food it eats is prairie dog! For a while we thought black footed ferrets were extinct but then we started finding them hiding for long periods of time in prairie dog homes. Humans captured them and brought them into captivity. We figured out how to breed them and now black-footed ferret populations have dramatically increased. Black footed ferrets are some of the hardest animals to breed in captivity.  The people who caught them did many many studies on how they breed in the wild and tried to make their cages as like that as possible.

It is illegal to kill black-footed ferrets, but if you kill a prairie dog town the black-footed ferrets will die with it. That means that it should be illegal to kill prairie dogs and maybe when the prairie dog coalition and I are trying to get the laws made so you cannot kill prairie dogs we could bring up that argument.

Black footed ferrets are nocturnal and hunt mainly at night; they sneak into prairie dog holes and eat them.

Though they look like domestic ferrets they are a whole different species, just as wolves are a different species than dogs! And cats are a completely different species than big cats such as Cheetahs and how farm pigs are really different from wild boars! 

So one more reason not to kill prairie dogs is to save the most endangered mammal in all of America.

Prairie Dog Day Celebration Was A Success!

This year, the PlainsConversation Center and the Prairie Dog Collation, held a Prairie Dog Day Party on February 2nd. (Prairie dog day (Groundhog Day for the West)). It was a big success! Lots of people showed up, there were lots of fun things to do, and it seemed to spread awareness about prairie dogs!  Most of the activities were for the younger crowd, but as the parents were dragged around to see the cool activities, it seemed as if they were learning a lot themselves.

That morning I got up a little early, and got in the car. My dad and I drove for about 40 minutes. When we got there we both helped set up displays about prairie dogs and the animals that depend on them.  At around nine, people started showing up, and then the crowd kept pouring in. Most of the activities were targeted at the younger audience. There were places where the little ones could plant prairie plants that the prairie dogs eat, there was a pile of coloring books teaching little kids about prairie dogs (though it seemed as if the parents liked it more!), there was a place where someone was helping kids make prairie-themed hats, and there was a person dressed as a giant prairie dog going around and taking pictures with people. There was even a scavenger hunt where you found prairie animals and poop and stuff like that.  It went a little slow: great for the little ones but not so good for the grownups.

One of the things that gathered the most people was the puppet show. The little ones seemed to LOVE it and kept yelling out to the main character—a prairie dog—to watch out for predators. After the puppet show, they brought out some prairie animals that you could pet! They even brought some real prairie dogs! (Not for petting!) 

Once the crowds started thinning out and help was not needed as much, I went on one of the wagon rides down to a real prairie town (human town not prairie dog town). All the people on the ride got to do real chores from that time and meet people that work in the town (fake of course, though the blacksmith was a real one.)  We got to feed the chickens, feed and pet the cows (really scratchy tongues!), and at the end of the tour we got to go and have fresh baked cookies baked in an old wood stove from that time. Unfortunately the cookies had butter in them and I recently went dairy free, so I couldn’t have one.. After that, there was time for us to go and explore ourselves before the wagon went back up to the main place. I went and sat with the chickens. Once I got back to the center of things my dad was tired and we left. 

All in all I think the day was big success! Knowledge about prairie dogs was spread, and lots of people had a great time! Though it might not have had a direct effect on saving the tiny people hopefully the young people there will tell their friends about prairie dogs, then those friends will tell their parents and the prairie dog knowledge will spread around the world!

PRAIRIE DOGS RULE!

Cymbre/Arwen smith

Prairie Dog Day is Soon! February 2nd!

The long weekend is over and Prairie Dog Day is coming soon!  Most people know February second as groundhog day, but here in the west part of America there are no groundhogs! It has been re-named Prairie Dog Day!

For the readers in other countries who do not know of either holiday: Groundhog day is a day where people gather at the base of a hill to watch a famous groundhog crawl up out of his hole. If the groundhog sees his shadow he will get scared and run back into his hole signaling that winter will continue for a little longer. If he does not see his shadow he will not be scared into his hole and winter will end. 

Unlike its cousin the groundhog, prairie dogs do not hibernate and therefore we can not do the whole prairie dog and shadow thing, but lots of schools and environmental organizations are celebrating prairie dog day by teaching children the importance of prairie dogs and hosting parties to celebrate the little critters!

The plains conversation center and prairie dog coalition are doing their parts by working together and educating visitors on february second about prairie dogs and having a bunch of fun activities based on the tiny people.

Killing Puppies

prairie dog: way smaller than bison

Yesterday I was doing some research on prairie dogs.
As I was lazily scrolling down on Google, something caught my eye: some place was selling prairie dogs as pets!
Being the curious eleven year old girl I am, I checked out the website. It had a lot of information on how to take care of prairie dogs and keep them. It said that, because of their social lives in the wild, they make amazing pets that are like overly bonding puppies that never grow up.  The good thing is that they can fit in your pocket! They are so social that they will bond with other animals, even ones five times the size of them! They can even bond with other prairie dogs and their owner. They will jump on a bison the size of a giant compared to them to save their owner. They are just like little kittens or puppies.

So I ask the people who want to exterminate prairie dogs: would you be as enthusiastic about sending a bunch of people with tanks of poison on their backs to kill a whole town inhabited by puppies? Not stray puppies covered in dirt that attack every person who walks by. Puppies that have only harmed six people in the last 57 years? Puppies that eat grass and not other animals? And even if you did, many many dog lovers would stop you before you could pick up the phone.  Many prairie dog lovers are trying to stop you from killing the "puppies" (prairie dogs), but they are not being listened to.

So please please just try and spend a few hours and call up the prairie dog coalition or someone like that and let them tell you how to solve your problems with the prairie dogs or show you that the problems are just in your head.
---Cymbre Arwen Smith

Winter Break is Over, Prairie Dog Blog Had a Sucess

Winter break is over and the original goal of the prairie dog blog has been accomplished, we have convinced the city to not exterminate but relocate the remaining prairie dogs in the Bear Creek Greenbelt. Now that that park is saved it is time to save the city! The next thing that I will do to help the prairie dogs is try to get the city to make a law (or is a law in a city not called a law?) that prairie dogs can not be exterminated, or even just that before any exterminations there must be a period of public comment. Because if you save a city, a state is next, then a country. (Hopefully!) if anyone knows either a lawyer that loves prairie dogs and will help me make a petition or where I can get a template for a petition with all the annoying legal stuff already written on it please do not hesitate to put a link to the template or the lawyer's email address in the comments below or send it to my email. Thanks!
---Arwen/Cymbre