GALLUP, N.M. (KRQE) - Prairie dogs are disturbing the dead in Gallup, but the fiery deaths the critters are suffering at the hands of the city is upsetting one animal-rights group.
Some of these grave sites are quite old, dating to the 1800s. When the rodents dig through the ground they're not just disturbing the grave, they may be digging up the pine boxes these people were buried in.
Prairie dogs create extensive networks burrowing many feet below ground. In some spots they've undermined and overturned headstones.
So the city turned to the Rodenator manufactured by an Idaho company to tackle the problem at the cemetery and at the city golf course which is also full of prairie dog holes.
Rodenator's video advertising is punctuated with subterranean explosions blowing dirt out of burrows and includes the boast, "There's nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from the Rodenator Pro."
The Rodenator pumps prairie dog burrows with propane and oxygen and then detonates the air-fuel mixture.
"You push that button, and it ignites the gases and there's a large explosion and concussion," Bob Weekes, Gallup's director of golf operations, said. "It's supposed to be very humane, and it seems to be that it is. It's quick and lethal."
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