A threatened species of prairie dogs in Utah is on
the verge of burrowing through sewage lagoons at Bryce Canyon
National Park. Staffer Richard Bryant says in a worst-case scenario
the lagoons could collapse, closing bathroom facilities and forcing
the park to shut down. An estimated 27 prairie dogs, one-sixth of
the estimated Bryce Canyon population, might also be driven away by
the flood of untreated human waste. Resource management officials
put up fake hawks around the lagoons, but the rodents quickly
caught on and continued their digging. Bryant says the sewage
lagoon is preferred habitat for prairie dogs because of its soft
soil for tunneling and sparse vegetation: Prairie dogs like to see
predators coming. The solution, officials say, is to move the
animals to a location two miles away. But since the Utah prairie
dog is listed as a threatened species, the U.S Fish and Wildlife
Service must approve the relocation plan. Bryant says he hopes to
begin moving the prairie dogs before September, when the rodents
begin to hibernate.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Sewage reservoir dogs.
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