Lafayette may have to relocate another prairie dog colony living on a city-owned property only weeks after a similar removal effort drew an outcry from activists and forced officials to scuttle the procedure.
The site is located east of Horizon Avenue, between Horizon Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard, city officials said this week.
“Any temporary removals will occur prior to the construction phase of a new, City-sponsored solar garden, and are being conducted to preserve the welfare of the prairie dogs while equipment is operating on site,” officials wrote. “Once the solar garden construction is complete, the animals will be allowed to return and reoccupy the original parcel.”
Officials were forced to eventually halt the most recent removal process and release the trapped rodents after residents complained the caged animals were left sitting out in the scorching sun.
That debacle sparked a conversation about whether the city’s climate bill’s environmental protections reach beyond the effects of energy extraction to shield the removal of wildlife.
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