By Beauty Damned

Wascawy Wodents

I just really liked the title of this article and it made me laugh (probably because the whole thing reminds me of some oldtime cartoon) so I'm posting it here:

Prairie Dogs Move Into Cemetery, Bones Move Out

Oct 18, 2004

SANTA FE, N.M. (Reuters) - A happy colony of New Mexico prairie dogs hit pay dirt in a cemetery full of historic skeletons, causing grief for town officials who want to protect the final resting place of the state's notables.
Prairie dogs are gnawing their way through skeletons in a historic cemetery in Sante Fe that houses the remains of three New Mexico governors, 10 mayors and other notables. They are leaving mounds of dirt mixed with human bones in a four-acre (1.6-hectare) lot in the heart of the city.

"It's a catastrophe," Erik Mason, president of the Fairview Cemetery Preservation Association, which runs the facility, said on Friday. "I would love to take them out one by one but you can't fire a rifle in the city limits."

The city requires a humane relocation of prairie dogs, but the preservation association does not have enough money to move the large colony.

Mason said he tried different strategies to get rid of the prairie dog invasion, including putting dry ice down the holes and plugging them with newspaper.

"Nothing worked," he said.

The cute critters called prairie dogs are not dogs, but rodents, sold in many places as pets. They typically live in a family group and adults stand between 12 inches and 15 inches.

Sounds like some of the residents are itching for some target practice.