HOA for Monument community changes method to exterminate prairie dog colony after pushback

MONUMENT, Colo. (KRDO) - There's debate in one monument community over a homeowner's association vote to rid an entire colony of prairie dogs, using a harsh type of poison. After pushback from some community members, the board relented, changing their method to carbon monoxide. Neighbors dealing withe the massive colony of rodents, say it's long overdue.

Residents along Leggins Way in the Monument community of Woodmoor, tell KRDO13 that the prairie dogs have been an issue dating back over two decades, and that the HOA for the Woodmoor used to take care of the colony every few years.

Now, residents say its been quite some time since that last happened, and it led to neighbors asking the board to act swiftly, as the colony has grown to about 1,500, a number shared by the HOA.

The board initially said it would hire a contractor to use aluminum phosphate, a very lethal poison which to some is a slow and brutal death, to eradicate the entire colony.

After some pushback from residents in Monument who caught wind of the plan, the board has decided to use carbon monoxide instead, which is considered more humane.

While some Monument residents argue that nature should take its course, others who live in the neighborhood say enough is enough.

"The colony has just multiplied. I can't tell you how many it's multiplied, but walking back there,  it's come to a point where  i discourage anybody from walking back there." explained Bob Harvey, who lives with his property lining the large open space in the neighborhood where the prairia dogs burrow.

Harvey has watched prairie dog problem slowly take over, during his 31 years in the neighborhood.

"We have a construction fence  and it holds out most of the dust and dirt, but it doesn't hold out the prairie dogs, so they burrow right under it and come right into our backyard." said Harvey, who added that one of his neighbors had their dogs lip bitten by one of the rodents.

"They'll chew through anything." Harvey opined, adding that wiring for pet dog collars underground have even fallen victim to the jaws of the prairie dogs.

So what's the issue with prairie dogs? Outside of meddling with landscaping and being nuisances to properties, the small rodents run the risk of carrying many diseases, including the plague, a disease that infected a man in Pueblo earlier this summer.

The Colorado Department of Agriculture has an entire web page dedicated to information on controlling prairie dog populations.

While Harvey and other neighbors KRDO13 talked to on Thursday said they were more than fine with the extermination happening, whether it was with the aluminum phosphate poison, or carbon monoxide, other's who live in Monument who caught wind of the plan via social media, have a stark contrast in opinions.

"I still think nature should take its course  and human interference has never been a really great  solution." said Laura McGraw who lives about 15 minutes from the Woodmoor community, and feels strongly about animals lives.

"I just think that  any sort of chemical  is not the right answer." she stated.

Instead McGraw, and others in the same boat as her, would like to see the rodents be relocated, to a sanctuary area in Pueblo which harbors other species that need prairie dogs in their ecosystem, such as raptors and black-footed ferrets.

"Why can't we give them that opportunity to have two species thrive?"

The HOA tells KRDO13, that relocation costs would run the association $120,000 dollars.

While residents like Harvey will acknowledge the place the rodents have in the ecosystem, he says the problems that they bring to the environment, and a neighborhood with families and pets, far outweighs their positive impact.

"Those benefits are out on the prairie, not in a neighborhood." said Harvey.