Holy Batblog Batgirl!: September 2008

Sunday, September 28, 2008

black tailed prairie dogs - on the move

Arizona's black tailed prairie dog translocation project is underway. We are preparing to trap prairie dogs at Ted Turner's Ladder Ranch, near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. For the next several days, we'll continue the "pre-baiting" phase, which involves baiting traps and allowing the prairie dogs to get used to entering the traps without getting caught. The bait consists of a mixture of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sweet oats. After about a week of pre-baiting, the traps will be set and the dogs will be caught within a couple days (theoretically). The traps we use are called "live traps" because they don't cause harm.

Welcome

i have always loved wildlife. most significantly, i remember a family vacation at age 7. driving through oregon, the beauty of crater lake made an incredible impression on me. and at the gift store, my parents bought me a golden guide to mammals. afterward, it seems i had that guide with me wherever i went. i dreamed about making plaster casts of mammal tracks like the ones shown on the first couple pages. i wanted to know everything about wildlife.

twenty years later i got a job as a wildlife biologist for the arizona game and fish department. i've been privileged to work on a variety of projects including black-footed ferret reintroduction, mount graham red squirrel monitoring, habitat evaluation and planning, black-tailed prairie dog reintroduction, and bat conservation and management. in my current position, i focus on bat conservation full time. i love my job, it provides a daily connection with that obsessive enthusiasm i felt at the age of 7.