Prairie dogs to be removed from Buffalo Jump state park

GREAT FALLS (AP) — Officials plan to reduce the number of prairie dogs at First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park because they say the animals are threatening artifacts.

The park plans to try to capture and relocate the prairie dogs first but killing the animals is also an option. Park manager Rick Thompson says it all depends on how many landowners or agencies are willing to accept the animals.

Native Americans used the land to hunt buffalo by guiding them over a sandstone cliff. The park has arrangements of rocks that were used to funnel the bison and rocks positioned in circles to mark where tepees stood.

Officials said the prairie dogs are burrowing under the rocks and causing the ground to collapse beneath them.