Please protest prairie dog massacre in Denver

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BACKGROUND

Developers for Stapleton, a neighborhood in Denver, are reportedly using lethal methods to control prairie dogs who reside in and around the community’s parks. Although local activists asked developers to pursue implementing humane prairie dog control, their requests have reportedly been denied, and the developers are moving forward with a poisoning or fumigating initiative as early as right now!

Fumigants and poisons are horribly cruel, causing convulsions, vomiting, internal bleeding, gradual pulmonary and cardiac collapse, and a variety of other reactions, which result in immense suffering and a slow, agonizing death. Companion animals and “nontarget” wild animals—including protected and even endangered species—can also be fatally impacted.

Please contact Stapleton’s developers and politely urge them to ditch lethal methods and instead work with local activists on humane prairie-dog control efforts!

Please forward this message far and wide!


WHOM TO CONTACT

Send polite comments to:

Email block

jimchrisman@forestcity.net ,  tomgleason@forestcity.net ,  kerry.oconnell@mortenson.com ,  jonratner@forestcity.net

Individual

James Chrisman
Senior Vice President
Forest City Stapleton, Inc.
jimchrisman@forestcity.net

Tom Gleason
Vice President of Public Relations
Forest City Stapleton, Inc.
tomgleason@forestcity.net

Kerry O’Connell
Senior Project Manager, Stapleton
Mortenson Construction
kerry.oconnell@mortenson.com

Jon Ratner
Vice President of Sustainability
Forest City Stapleton, Inc.
jonratner@forestcity.net


SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Vice Presidents Chrisman, Gleason, and Ratner, and Project Manager O’Connell:

Developers in Stapleton, a neighborhood in Denver, are reportedly using lethal methods to control prairie dogs who reside in and around the community’s parks, and I am respectfully requesting that non-lethal options be mandated. Although these culls are inherently cruel based on the premise alone, it is important to recognize they are based on erroneous information.

Please allow me to illustrate a few of these concerns. First, ecologically, populations will fluctuate according to conditions and naturally-occurring food sources; it is the interference of humans that causes imbalance. To blame and slaughter the prairie dogs for human encroachment is both irresponsible and unjustified.

Second, killing colonies artificially increases food supplies to the remaining animals, the consequence of which is increased reproduction and an ensuing greater population. In fact, studies have demonstrated that the continual cycle of seasonal culls is responsible for a rebound, or larger populations, in subsequent years.

Third, this type of mass killing using such a brutal type of slaughter in such a central and visible location would certainly adversely affect both visitation and tourism. I would be unwilling to consider it, or nearby, as a potential vacation destination if this prairie dog cull continues.

Fourth, fumigants and poisons are horribly cruel, causing convulsions, vomiting, internal bleeding, gradual pulmonary and cardiac collapse, and a variety of other reactions, which result in immense suffering and a slow, agonizing death. Companion animals and “nontarget” wild animals—including protected and even endangered species—can also be fatally impacted.

Please instead examine alternative, non-lethal, effective, long-term wildlife control programs that focus on habitat modification, exclusion, and repellents, which, according to established protocols when using these methods, have all proven successful in curtailing populations.

I know your time is limited and I want to thank you each for your attention to this urgent matter.

NAME

one day the stapleton community,
lost it human “immunity”.
the prairie dog populace decided
one day,
that in their territory no more
humans could stay,
so toxins were used to kill
this invader,
manunkind this could happen to you
sooner or later.
treat all others as you wish to see
returned,
all god’s creatures are equal,
and not by man, meant to
be spurned!!!

Karen Lyons Kalmenson