AR-News: (US) Prairie dogs sucked up by vacuum

[Animalconcerns Info]

CORTEZ, Colo. - On a lonesome alfalfa field in the shadow of the San Juan
Mountains, a little brown head pops up and swivels like a periscope in its
hole.

Not far away, Gay Balfour squints hard in the midday sun. "That's it!" he
exclaims, leaping into his boxy truck and gunning it down the field. The
head swiftly disappears.

Balfour maneuvers the tanklike vehicle around the burrow, unhooks a large
vacuum hose and jams it into the hole. He fiddles with a few knobs and
gauges, then pushes a button. The truck roars, spewing smoke and dirt into
the sky.

"Probably dug to China by now!" Balfour yells over the din. Then comes a
thump, thump, thump. A prairie dog, sucked out of its home at speeds
approaching 60 mph, spins up the 5-inch-wide hose, banks off a foam wall
and slides into the back of the truck.
...
Not everyone is enthusiastic about Balfour's work. The Prairie Dog
Coalition, a Boulder-based group trying to protect the animals, said
prairie dogs are sucked up so fast that many die or are maimed.

"We do not support vacuuming as a method of humanely removing prairie
dogs," said David Crawford, acting director of the group. "Unfortunately,
his device holds some fascination for the public, though that dissipates
when you consider that prairie dogs are being thrown in the back of a
truck with rocks, sticks, snakes and salamanders."

full story:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0928prairiedogs28.html

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