Colorado Development Spells Demise for Local Prairie Dogs

"The Castle Rock Town Council gave unanimous approval to plans for a large scale, mixed use development north of the Outlet Stores," reports Lance Hernandez.

The project, known as the Promenade at Castle Rock, would add "more than one million square feet of retail space and more than 300 apartments on 160 acres of land between Interstate 25 and Highway 85," and next to the outlet stores in the town.

But, ay, there's a rub. The project is proposed for the habitat of a large colony of prairies dogs. "This is one of the last prairie dog colonies along the Front Range," says project opponent Malia Reeves, as quoted in the article. Reeves is not the only opponent to the idea of the project. PETA put out an action alert to mobilize its supporters to advocate for the prairie dogs.

David Mitchell, in a separate article, states that the prairie dogs will be "exterminated." An earlier article by Ashley Michels stated that the development company, Alberta Development, had hired a pest control company to place traps over prairie dog holes, though it was unclear whether the animals would be exterminated.