Colorado released thousands of prairie dogs into a chemical wasteland, and the mission took a wild turn. The relocation was meant to save the species from extinction, yet activists insisted the animals were being sent to a toxic site that could spell disaster.
In 1989, wildlife managers released 714 prairie dogs onto a former chemical weapons production site roughly 10 miles outside Denver. The land, part of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, had been contaminated by decades of industrial activity and was considered biologically dead. The prairie dogs were introduced with a modest goal: to stabilize the soil and reduce dust. Their effect, however, went far bey…
Inside this Kansas courtroom, one rancher stood alone against 99 furious neighbors, all demanding he destroy the prairie dog colonies on his land or face government poisoning. But Larry Haverfield refused, convinced the animals were vital to his cattle’s health.
In the summer of 2005, Larry Haverfield, a cattle rancher in western Kansas who had spent decades raising livestock near Russell Springs, received a letter from Logan County ordering him to eliminate the prairie dog colonies on his land within 15 days. When the deadline passed, the county said it would send applicators to do the job and bill him for it. Haverfield refused.The dispute over prairie…