There goes the neighborhood - again.

Controversial Colorado hunt promoter Jim Bowman is hosting the 4th annual "There Goes the Neighborhood Prairie Dog Hunt" on private lands around Medicine Bow today.

The 15 two-man teams that participated in last year's unofficial hunt bagged well over a thousand prairie dogs. In past years, participants have come from as far away as New Zealand.

An animal rights spokeswoman, however, decried the event, saying shooting prairie dogs for sport is an abhorrent practice that should be stopped wherever it occurs.

"Recent evidence shows that concentrated shooting like that found in contest kills is not only harmful to prairie dogs, but to the animals in the ecosystem that depends on them," said Casey Pheiffer, The Humane Society's the hunting issues deputy campaign manager.

Bowman, from Kersey, Colo., said participants in the event pay around $40 to compete in the shoot.

Under contest rules, participants shoot prairie dogs in teams of two from sunup to late afternoon and then turn in the varmint tails for prize money.

In a release, Bowman said this year's event will also include a canned food drive and a chili supper. He said donations from the drive and supper will go to benefit the National Rifle Association's Hunters for the Hungry Program.

"This hunt puts much needed food on the shelves of the Wyoming food bank," said Bowman.

No license

Colorado prohibits the killing of prairie dogs for sport. In September 2001, Colorado became the first state in the country to prohibit the sport shooting of black-tailed prairie dogs.

Wyoming allows year-round killing of the rodent without requiring a license. The Wyoming Department of Agriculture has classified prairie dogs as a pest.

No license is needed to hunt prairie dogs in Wyoming, nor is there a bag limit.

The Wyoming Board of Outfitters and Professional Guides requires no license to guide prairie dog hunters.

Prairie dog populations have declined rapidly this century, due in large part to sylvatic plague, regulated and unregulated poisoning by government agencies and private landowners, loss of habitat and unregulated shooting.

Bowman, a machinist and avid coyote hunter, contends the contest helps area ranchers eliminate, without the use of poisons or other chemicals, what the Wyoming Department of Agriculture lists as a pest worthy of eradication in the state.

Participants generally use a .22 caliber rifle, but Bowman said some participants also use black-powder muzzleloaders.

Keystone species

A coalition of environmental and animal welfare groups, including the Humane Society of the United States, petitioned the Wyoming Game and Fish Department last month asking the agency to ban prairie dog killing contests such as the one scheduled for this weekend in Carbon County.

In a letter to the Game and Fish Commission dated May 25, the groups asked the seven-member board to pass a "competitive hunting rule" to prohibit contest killing of game and non-game animals.

The groups cited what they called the "environmental and ethical reasons" for an immediate ban.

"Not only does the whack and stack nature of contest kills violate fair chase hunting ethics, but studies have shown that concentrated recreational shooting dangerously alters reproduction patterns of prairie dogs and increases disease-carrying flea loads," wrote Dave Pauli, director of the Humane Society's Northern Rockies Regional Office.

Pheiffer noted the Medicine Bow area, where Bowman's prairie dog hunt is held, is host to where the endangered black-footed ferret is being reintroduced.

She said prairie dogs are a keystone species for a variety of predators, including ferrets. Pheiffer said the group fears the hunt will have "adverse effects" on the ferrets.

While many ranchers and hunters shoot and poison prairie dogs on private and public lands in Wyoming, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and other Western wildlife agencies have been working to save the lowly prairie dog through interstate agreements and state management plans.

Though petitioned several times over the past decade to list the animal for special protections under the Endangered Species Act, federal officials have determined the prairie dog's current status does not warrant listing at this time.

In 2000, the Game and Fish Commission appointed a 20-member citizens working group to develop a state management plan for the black-tailed prairie dog. But the commission decided in July 2001 to not accept or implement the draft management plan.

In 2002, the commission authorized the department to conduct an inventory of prairie dog populations and habitat in Wyoming. The information is being incorporated into a larger grasslands plan that is under development by the Game and Fish.

Star-Tribune reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.