What can you say. It's complicated. I like to have them around, making bare unused lots more interesting by their presence, such as the vacant lots between I-27 and Ave. A or those near the Walmart at 6th & R. Or colonies in the Canyon Lakes parks.
Back about 2011 when I rode a bike to Walmart and had to yield to a prairie dog caught in the street at Ave. R and 10th between a car and me, I enjoyed the moment. Glad the little feller got home safe that day.
To me, the Canyon Lakes colonies look more like a real prairie dog town than the weedy desolate patch enclosed in walls that the city of Lubbock miscalls "Prairie Dog Town."
That prairie dogs are among the rodents that carry plague doesn't bother me at all. https://youtu.be/5nsm9cgHmvo [Reminds me of the way a TTUHSC prof was pilloried for transporting plague bacillus on a commercial airplane. Ha. Want bubonic plague? Buy rat traps and go trap rodents in eastern NM. The plague bacillus is always with us, not far away. Live with it, as we've been doing all along. Last I heard the medical school prof was out of prison and working at the University of Riyadh; hopefully they appreciated him there.]
Of course I am not among those who like to ride horses at the Canyon Lakes parks, and I don't have P-dogs trying to colonize my yard. Or maybe not. Something dug a burrow under some cholla cactus several years ago and left droppings, but I think that was a rabbit there, until the cats or the fox caught it.
The poisoning bothers me, just as lethal injection of condemned humans does. Better to be shot or killed by predators in my opinion, for humans or prairie dogs. And if Lubbock urbanites are disturbed by hunters firing .22s, then they can just put up with the prairie dogs.
And I sure as hell don't approve of calling killing "removal," as here: http://www.lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2016-07-21/danger-sign-east-lubbock-park-prompted-prairie-dog-removal Too easy to use euphemisms to disguise facts and make uncomfortable situations more palatable, no? Easy road to lie to oneself, no?
The recent history is this. Back after the year 2000, prairie dogs had colonized the farmland the city was spraying treated sewage water on, and there was panic about nitrates contaminating the water table because they could run down prairie dog burrows instead of percolating through the full depth of the soil. The Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission blamed prairie dogs for the subterranean nitrate levels. The city decided extermination was the way to go. [So let's get this straight; there was worry about nitrates contaminating the water table, but it's okay to use poison?] https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2002-10-18/106246/
Enter Lynda Watson, prairie dog removal specialist. And that is removal as in capture and relocate, not removal as in kill or exterminate. Lynda Watson has been one of the most famous Lubbock-area residents for over 15 years. For more on the fascinating Ms. Watson -- they really ought to make a movie out of her life -- see
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Texas-prairie-dog-catcher-enjoys-fame-2099143.php
https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0813/p03s01-usgn.html
https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/git-along/
Texas Country Reporter at https://youtu.be/UcTjGcm7-7A
and in a 2017 update, http://marfapublicradio.org/blog/nature-notes/conserving-a-keystone-species-lynda-watson-is-the-prairie-dog-lady-of-west-texas/
Trouble is, capturing prairie dogs is work-intensive, doesn't pay much, only a sample of a big colony can be saved, and there is always the question of what to do with P-dogs captured. And who volunteers to live the hard life of Ms. Watson? How do YOU feel about sticking your arm down a prairie dog hole? And keep in mind you need to be able to feel the p-dogs so no gloves. A job for would-be catfish noodlers, no?
Is there a humane solution? Other than spraying prairie dog burrows with birth control hormones, I don't think there is. But for the sake of honesty, let's do away with the euphemisms.