Friendly reminder – People aren’t the only animals who needlessly suffer in Oklahoma.
Last night, News 9 aired a report about the saga of some unfortunate and unlucky prairie dog families from Yukon who were drugged, tormented, and then forcibly relocated to Western Oklahoma by the Department of Wildlife Conservation.
As News 9 first reported in 2023, a colony of the critters had been squatting on some land near Sara Rd and Route 66 for a few years now and had built a pretty decent homestead and free bread side-hustle.
Sadly for them, the owners of the land want to clear it for some suburban Generica development. Instead of working with the prairie dogs to come up with a business plan to capitalize on their hole-digging success, they are being forced to move to the backward, uncivilized land known as Western Oklahoma.
Here are the details from News 9's chief prairie dog correspondent Deanne Stein:
The ultimate fate of a prairie dog colony in Yukon is now known.
These wild animals have been a hot topic for years as new developments kept forcing them to migrate to the northwest near Route 66. Last week, many people noticed cages at the location off of Sara Road, wondering what was happening.
Last week, the ODWC said it worked with a research team from the University of Louisiana to capture 38 prairie dogs using baited traps.
“While the prairie dogs were under anesthesia, they drew blood samples and took a small tissue sample for their data to look at genetics and disease resistance,” said Kurt Kuklinski, Wildlife Diversity and Research Supervisor for the ODWC.
Kuklinski said his team then took the animals in carriers to a former colony site in northwestern Oklahoma.
Geeze, wouldn’t it suck to be one of those prairie dogs?
Imagine you're living the good life with your family in a Home Creations neighborhood edition on the edge of Yukon, with convenient access to a Braum’s, major turnpike, and crazy old lady who gives you free bread, and then in the middle of the night someone drugs you, takes a DNA sample, and sends you to live in an abandoned mobile home park in Woodward, where there are plenty of snakes, coyotes, and methed-out rednecks to hunt and harass you. Sucks to be them, huh?
I asked around the Ogle Mole Network to see where specifically in northwestern Oklahoma these unlucky rodents were sent, and here’s an exclusive look at their new home:
Okay, that’s actually the hole in the ground at Roman Nose that KFOR investigated a few weeks ago. I doubt they’ll move the critters there because it’s a golf course, and they don’t want weekend golfers chipping their balls into the dogs’ homes.
Here’s more:
Kuklinski says by putting them back in their natural habitat, the hope is they will thrive.
“Where they are right now in that urban environment, they're not able to expand their colony beyond that single lot and they face threats from traffic and can't move and do well as a colony there,” he said. “Where we've relocated them, they've got hundreds to thousands of acres to expand.”
The Department of Wildlife says none of the prairie dogs were harmed during the move. They say it could take years to move the rest of them out of Yukon.
Yep, none of the prairie dogs were harmed… according to people who drugged them, drew their blood, and then moved them to desolate land in the part of the country few animals want to live. In other news, the Israeli government says everyone in the West Bank is doing just fine!
Anyway, we wish these prairie dogs who had their lives uprooted and destroyed by greedy men the best of luck adjusting to their new home. We hope they get settled, adjusted, and find a new lady to give them free bread.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
