I received this email today and another from a different organization
the day before. Please consider emailing or snail-mailing to stop the
prairie dog poisoning. Prairie dogs are the primary food source for
black-footed ferrets in the area to be poisoned and through their
reduction/elimination from the area, the ferrets and countless other
predators will suffer significant losses.

Thank you!

STOP MASSIVE PRAIRIE DOG POISONING

ACTION DEADLINE: October 28, 2006

**Tell the U.S. Forest Service not to allow the unrestricted poisoning
of prairie dogs within three national grasslands in Nebraska and South
Dakota.**

Black-footed ferrets, burrowing owls, badgers, swift foxes, and many
other species rely on prairie dogs as a food source or use their
burrows. The loss of so many prairie dogs would cripple recovery of
the highly endangered ferret.

Under a previous plan hurriedly pushed through last year, the Forest
Service spread poison across 7,000 acres of prairie dog colonies near
private lands, killing an estimated 70,000 prairie dogs. The new
proposal goes much further and would allow prairie dog poisoning
anywhere on the three national grasslands. This would include land
within an area that holds the largest concentration of prairie dogs on
public lands in the Great Plains, and is home to about half of the
world's approximately 700 remaining black-footed ferrets.


http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=30963

Please forward this alert to your friends and colleagues. You can make
a big difference for our national grasslands. Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

Steve Forrest
World Wildlife Fund
Bozeman, Montana
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[Posted in FML 5407]