Prairie Dogs

From Today Show “Animal Tracks” web page… 

These prairie dogs are just chillin’ out in the Arizona sun, looking like they are fending off food coma. The photo was taken by Jane Lyons, an interior designer who dabbles in photography. "I managed to get the shot without them becoming too alarmed and it seems I caught them at a relaxed moment,” the Philadelphia resident told Solent News. "I was really thrilled to have photographed their closeness and very unique charm and personalities."

We have prairie dogs in New Mexico, too. They can be pretty pesky little things that are real problems for horseback riders, highways, airport runways, etc.

But they are cute!

George Maloof, father of Joe, Gavin, George, Phil and Adrienne, told me once his favorite of all the stories I ever did for KOAT-TV’s Big Seven News was a report from a prairie dog village near Espanola.

I stopped by the village on a trip to Taos one day and attempted to get an interview with the Mayor of the Prairie Dog Village, but he was not commenting for TV, or any other media, at the time.

We went about our merry way going from hole to hole looking for folks to talk to, and none of those little creatures would talk. From a distance, they would stand on their front porches and watch the goings on, but they didn’t want to go on camera.

As we drove out of sight, I could hear them exclaim, “Good riddance dear reporter, now leave us alone!”

I did.