Update on Prairie Dog Reintroduction

Here's an update on the prairie dog colony from volunteer Landon Vincent :

“I just wanted to write with a bit of an update on the black-tailed prairie dogs down in Las Cienegas. Last week I camped out spending four straight days monitoring the colony. Every hour (of daylight) we would do a visibility count and compare that with previously known percentage ranges for what's been observed in healthy colonies elsewhere and our colony seemed to be doing really well. Our counts were right within the expected range, depending a bit on the weather. During windy days we saw a few less, but I guess that's understandable when they rely upon scent and sound for defense. The dogs were really active at already building their own natural burrows as well as exploring up the far hillside.”

The Tucson Citizen has an article on the prairie dog release: and AZ Game & Fish has posted an article . And check out our slideshow on the release . It takes awhile to load – wait until the control panel shows up on the right corner of the screen.

AZ Game & Fish needs volunteers over the next three months to monitor the prairie dog colony. If you can help please contact us.

Thanks to Landon for the update and to all of the volunteers for their efforts to return this keystone species to its home in Arizona!

Karen Michael

Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project Party

Here are some pictures from the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project's Wolf Without Borders Party in Flagstaff on October 18. Congratulations to Project Director Paula Lewis and all the hard-working volunteers. It was a great party for a great cause. To learn more visit the ADLA website and go to GCWRP link.

Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs Back in Arizona

Big news for Arizona's wildlife and grassland habitats in southeast Arizona. After 50 years of extirpation, black-tailed prairie dogs were reintroduced in Arizona this week. So many groups supported this effort, including Animal Defense League of Arizona (see October 4 Blog).
In an e-mail message, Bill Van Pelt, Grassland Coordinator of Western Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies said

I am pretty confident this will not be a lead story on the front page of any newspaper. Today [October 7], at 11:17 a.m. after nearly 50 years absence on the Arizona landscape, 73 black-tailed prairie dogs were placed in release cages on the Las Cienegas Grasslands near Sonoita, Arizona. This has been a project in the making since 1965, when the first discussions about re-establishing this species began in Arizona. While part of the success story today is the return of the prairie dog, the other part is the number individuals, and entities working together for grassland conservation...

Bill may be right, but this is front page news for Animal Defense League of Arizona!

Prairie Dog Reintroduction

Last weekend Animal Defense League of Arizona volunteers helped the AZ Game & Fish Dept. with constructing release pens and nesting chambers for black-tailed prairie dogs, which will be reintroduced in southern Arizona.
The job was finished earlier than expected, thanks to hard-working volunteers who drilled, dug, and cut weeds around the tunnels.

Thanks to everyone that volunteered on the black-tailed prairie dog reintroduction project. It’s exciting to see this keystone species being returned to its rightful place.

ADLA is a member of the Prairie Dog Coalition. Visit the website for more information on these remarkable animals.

(Photo: Volunteers Landon Vincent and Darlene Handley)