~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL
Prairie Dogs being Prairie Dogs
OK, so it’s NOT Punxsutawney Phil or Melrose Mel (late of Long Island)…and I can’t forget New Jersey’s own Lacey of Lacey Township who ran away between appearances, before the pressure could get to her…
Away from groundhog land, there’s Prairie Dog Day. The El Paso Zoo has an event at 2:30 PM MT (Sort of a late riser?)
Who says you need a groundhog to pop out on Groundhog Day? The El Paso Zoo says our Prairie dogs are the next best thing. Instead of Punxsutawney Phil, the El Paso Zoo is calling on Peekie Boo – the Prairie Dog to predict an early spring or a longer winter. If you’d like to join the Zoo staff in this opportunity of magnanimous proportion, please meet us at the Prairie Dog Mine at 2:30pm…
Being born on Groundhog Day has always been special to me. I think it bestows a sort of “tie” with rodents. I’ve been the caretaker of gerbils and guinea pigs (technically, the are NOT rodents, by the way), had my own Havahart trap for the groundhogs who visited my garden in South Brunswick, NJ and currently feed several generations of rock squirrels that live over the wall here in Southern New Mexico. They regularly try to dig into my raised vegetable beds and come to the tray bird feeder and drink water all summer.
So, I’m happy to report that there is an advocacy group for prairie dogs based in the Midwest. As you may or not may know, prairie dogs are being exterminated deliberately at an alarming rate! Nothing like screwing with Mother Nature….
Prairie Dog Lover’s Burrow – Midwest Prairie Dog Shelter – Outreach * Rescue * Advocacy.
So pay these folks a visit and check out their site! And note the quote from Martin Luther King:
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”—-MLK, Jr.
Message to Barack Obama–learn some lessons from the prairie dog people if you can’t seem to grasp what Martin Luther King was really all about!
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More on Prairie Dogs and their ecological importance to Great Plains and the West from the HSUS:
More on Punxsutawney Phil’s big show at the official site: http://www.groundhog.org/info/
(Personally, I find Phil’s big event getting to be a bit out of hand, so I’m sticking with Peekie Boo today!!)
UPDATE 1
No big fanfare, either…No Mayor Bloomberg action…LOL!!! I guess our PD is officially named “Howdy Peekie Boo”…
Howdy sees his shadow
Howdy Peekie Boo the prairie dog popped out of his burrow to proclaim six more weeks of El Paso-style winter Monday at the El Paso Zoo.
Filed under: Current Politics, Life | Tagged: Barack Obama, El Paso, El Paso Zoo, gerbils, Great Plains, Groundhog Day, groundhogs, guinea pigs, Howdy Praire Dog, Hpwdy Prairie Dog, HSUS (Humane Society of the United States), Lacey Township NJ, Martin Luther King Jr., Midwest Prairie Dog Shelter, Mother Nature, New Jersey, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Peekie Boo prairie dog, Prairie Dog Day, prairie dog ecology, prairie dogs, Punxsutaney Phil, South Brunswick NJ, southern New Mexico, the West | 11 Comments »
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