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 [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML 5407]