Praiie Dogs at Bryce Canyon

On sunny summer days, Utah Prairie Dogs can regularly be seen in the meadows that border the roads in the northern portion of Bryce Canyon National Park. It's never a good idea to approach a wild animal of any size. However, getting close to a prairie dog or allowing one to approach you is an especially bad idea. Too many park visitors feed rodents such as prairie dogs thus causing these animals to lose their natural fear of humans.

Although not as numerous as other kinds of prairie dogs, Utah Prairie Dogs numbered 95,000 animals in the 1920s. By the 1960s, populations had crashed due to poisoning and other reduction methods. By 1972, it was estimated that only 3,300 Utah Prairie Dogs remained and loss of suitable habitat was predicted to result in the species' extinction by the year 2000.

In 1973, the Utah Prairie Dog was listed as an endangered species on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife List of Threatened and Endangered Species. Conservation strategies included reintroducing them to Bryce Canyon National Park. Today nearly 200 animals live in the park, and comprise the largest protected population of Utah Prairie Dogs. In 1992, prairie dogs were trapped within the park, and transported to the Awapa Plateau to establish another viable colony. Recent successes have caused the Utah Prairie Dog status to be downlisted from endangered to threatened. However, populations still remain precariously low. It is hoped that more reintroduction's within the protection of Bryce Canyon's boundaries will help get the species off the Endangered Species list altogether.

They are just the cutest little things you every saw! Always standing at attention or scampering around in their little "Prairie Dog Town"