The black-tailed prairie dog may win the Endangered Species designation that its champions crave.
Love them or hate them, there is no disputing that they once laid claim to some 90 million acres east of the Rockies, and now they've been squeezed into less than 2 million.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service this week announced the prairie dog species has cleared its first hurdle in reaching for the threatened or endangered designation that could protect the species from farmers, developers and sportsmen.
That's just the first step, though, Fish & Wildlife officials cautioned.
They approved a process that will thoroughly review the arguments for and against the designation.
Earlier this year, the environmental group WildEarth Guardians filed a complaint against Fish & Wildlife for failing to list the species as endangered or threatened, despite what the group says are valid reasons to do so.
WildEarth Guardians provided biological information, and asserted that several factors endanger the habitat of the black-tailed prairie dog, including: the conversion of their habitat to cropland, urbanization, disease, recreational shooting, and oil, gas and mineral development.
Prairie dog-niks say the animals were here first, are no threat to humans and are a reminder of how the plains used to be, before farms, houses and strip malls.
Their allies include some people who don't like more development in general.
Critics of prairie dogs say they are cuter versions of rats, nothing but vermin that can spread plague, make holes in which livestock can break ankles, and hold up needed urban development.
Black-tailed prairie dogs are found east of the continental divide in Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska.
From the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo.
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