7.28.06

Save that date! We’re restarting the RMAD bimonthly meetings. This is for members, friends, and future friends to find out what is going on and to talk about our work. More information in the calendar below. Please contact us with any questions.

Save this (approximate) date! RMAD will be hosting a casual, fun and indulgent fundraiser in mid-August (around the 18-22). More details soon. Anyone who wants to make vegan pie or four, please email Paula Lewis at paulal@rmad.org.

Recent developments with the Keep Boulder Wild (www.KeepBoulderWild.org) campaign have provided a somewhat optimistic future for Boulder’s prairie dogs. Two avenues are currently being pursued within the campaign...

Of the legal efforts ,RMAD Executive Director Dave Crawford says, “The legal team had a productive meeting with several attorneys Wednesday morning. The team continues to explore whether or not the city is abiding by its own ordinance as it prepares to kill the prairie dogs at Watson and Valmont. Also, we received a cursory – and arguably inadequate – reply from city staffer Bev Johnson to our open records request, which seeks to ascertain exactly how, and under what sections of the law, the administration is proceeding with its plans. We also need to find out if the city is required by law to complete in 2006 its 10-year review of the Grasslands Management Plan. If anyone is willing to help with that research please let me know!”

Of the relocation effort, Lindsey Sterling Krank says, “The team is still in the process of securing a release site for the prairie dogs on private land. We have filed an application w/ the FDA to get the relocation going, if a release site is approved. The city-owned land that has recently been greatly affected by plague is proving difficult to work with because there is little to no research proving that a relocation into the sites could be safe for the prairie dogs. It could also jeopardize a CU professor's research that is working to learn how to prevent the spread of plague in the long run.”

And the numbers have spoken! Keep Boulder Wild researcher Yemaya Thayer recently assembled the tally of pro- and anti-prairie dog comments that were sent to the city (and which are available to the public). Thanks to the efforts of compassionate people – as publicized by RMAD, the Prairie Dog Coalition, The Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – 297 were in favor of humane management and 5 were for lethal control. Enough said, eh?

As RMAD is the fiscal sponsor of Keep Boulder Wild, we’re taking contributions for this campaign and all our other work. Your help is needed! For more information on how to contribute, see this page: http://www.rmad.org/support.html or contact me by email or phone.

Congratulations to Erica Rambus, good friend to RMAD and to all animals. Erica will be featured on Channel 7 for her “Everyday Hero” award. The dates for the broadcast are: 8/6 (10pm), 8/9 (11am), 8/11 (4pm), 8/12 (5pm), 8/13 (7am). To read about Erica and her work, please visit http://www.divinefeline.org/.

And a sad, final note: please be careful driving in these hot, drought-inducing times. Colorado wildlife must often find forage in places it normally wouldn’t, which might include crossing busy roads. Dave and I carried a dead baby deer, no bigger than a dog, out of the intersection at 30th and Arapahoe. This one’s for her.

-- Chris --