What is the status of the black-tailed prairie dog as a species?
In the late 1990’s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reviewed a petition to list the black-tailed prairie dog as a threatened species. Although the service found that the species was warranted for listing, the listing was precluded by other, higher priorities. This means that the black-tailed prairie dog receives no protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. NatureServe provides a range-wide rating for the black-tailed prairie dog indicating that it is somewhere between “vulnerable to extirpation” and “apparently secure”. In Colorado, the Colorado Natural Heritage Program lists the black-tailed prairie dog as vulnerable to extirpation in Colorado. The Colorado Division of Wildlife in the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy identifies black-tailed prairie dog as a species with moderate and stable populations and as a species of most concern.
