Aug. 09--They're intelligent, cute and beloved by many in Santa Fe. Now they're apparently being used for target practice.
At least 13 prairie dogs, including several young pups, have been shot over the last six weeks at a colony near the corner of St. Michael's Drive and Galisteo Street.
The weapon of choice appears to be a pellet gun. The shooter remains a mystery. The police chief and city manager have been brought into the discussion about what to do in response.
"It's a colony that we've always loved to just watch and they were always just playing and not afraid of cars and now with everything that's happened, every time I know I'm going to drive by there I just cringe and worry that I'm going to see another dead one or even a dead dog or something of that nature," prairie dog advocate Barbara Gay said.
"It's a public safety issue and heart wrenching to see those things," she said.
Gay and other prairie dog advocates say there's danger to people because the shootings are near businesses and the new city walking/biking trail along St. Francis Drive west of Galisteo.
Gay, her husband and others have been taking care of the colony near a Los Alamos National Bank branch for years, providing the critters with food and trying to raise money to move them to a safer area.
Gay said members of the group found the dead bodies of three adults and one pup in early July. The animals were sent to a lab that determined they were free of disease but had suffered bullet wounds. In the meantime, other dead prairie dogs were found with bullet holes in their heads. Workers at the bank later disclosed that at least two dead animals were found in late June.
"It's very, very sad to pick up these poor little bodies," Gay said.
Gay and others are patrolling the area on weekends -- most of the incidents have occurred on Saturdays and Sundays -- when the bank is closed. The watch takes place during the day because prairie dogs bunker down into their burrows at night.
"We're monitoring the area now to try and prevent any more shootings," Gay said. "We sit in our cars. We don't have much of a weekend, honestly."
People for Native Ecosystems, a prairie dog advocacy group, has also put up signs offering a $1,000 reward to anyone with information on the prairie dog hunter.
Despite the increased vigilance, another pup was killed on July 28.
Representatives for People for Native Ecosystems met Wednesday with Santa Fe Police Chief Ray Rael and City Manager Robert Romero to discuss the situation.
Rael said police officers already patrol the area pretty closely, but he'll try to beef up their presence on the weekends. The city might also install one of its mobile surveillance cameras.
"Our goal is to get it to stop one way or another, if it's relocation of prairie dogs or scaring the person away or catching the person, whatever it is," Joseph Karnes, an attorney for the prairie dog advocates, said.
The group has provided Rael with a description of a possible suspect, and the police chief said his officers will try to locate the individual.
The harshest charge levied against the shooter would probably be an animal cruelty misdemeanor, Rael said.
He said it's hard to say if the prairie dog killer poses a public safety threat to humans.
"Are there studies out there that show individuals perhaps have engaged in cruelty to animals in the past and it's escalated? Yes. Has everyone who's ever shot a prairie dog or kid that's shot a bird escalated to the conduct of a serial killer? No," he said.
"I can tell you it kind of depends on the individual, but there's a vast difference, at least from my perspective, in engaging in this type of conduct as opposed to threatening a person and I just don't have enough information to make that connection," he said.
The prairie dogs might get a reprieve in late September or October, when they traditionally go into hibernation.
Copyright 2012 - Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
