Prairie Dog

Actually a squirrel. Gets name from its bark. It was food for settlers, especially in drouths. Lives in cluster of burrows called a "Town". Burrows, hazardous to running horses, often have caused broken bones among horses and riders. Also prairie dogs ate grass roots, destroying cattle feed. One old-time town was 100 miles wide and extended, almost unbroken, 250 miles southward from prairie dog town fork of Red River. Extermination has wiped out most colonies. This colony was established in 1959 by Odessa rotary club.