LAFAYETTE, Colo. — As cute as they may be, prairie dogs can be a nuisance. At one office park in Lafayette, they're getting too close for comfort.
"I definitely think they need to be relocated. [They're] just a little bit too close to office space," Dr. JJ Wellman, veterinarian and owner of Happy Paws Veterinary Hospital, said Monday.
Her office, located at the WestGate Office Park near Cimarron Drive, is next-door to a bustling prairie dog colony.
"They don't belong adjacent to office buildings, but thankfully, there is a place for them to go," she said.
The roughly 150 prairie dogs have caused enough problems that there are now plans in place by the WestGate Office Park Owners Association to remove them. But how Dr. Wellman has been told that will be done doesn't sit well with her.
"[The association has] only reached out to one company. The one company quoted $15,000 to $30,000 to trap as many as they could and fumigate the rest," she said.
Instead, she would like them all to be relocated — not just some — and find a way to make sure a new colony doesn't pop up. She's also concerned about how the fumigation would affect the animals in her practice.
"We love animals, and that's why I've dedicated my life to this. So we're all supposed to just watch as prairie dogs are being fumigated out back? It's just not right," Dr. Wellman said.
A proponent of the relocation and possible fumigation is the Boulder County Housing Authority. It owns the preschool nearby and the five lots around it, where the prairie dogs currently reside.
"Each day, many young children are on the property and on a playground beside the preschool where prairie dogs are living, moving about, digging, and leaving droppings," spokesperson Jim Williams said in an email. "BCHA supports relocating the maximum number of prairie dogs possible to help protect the preschool children and minimize contact with adults whose health may be at risk."
Dr. Wellman just wishes it wasn't at the cost of some of the prairie dogs' lives.
"I've already been outvoted, but I'm hoping some media attention will help others advocate, and for everyone to be a little bit more thoughtful about this decision," she said.
There's an association meeting scheduled for Wednesday morning, where businesses and the housing authority will learn more about the plans to remove the prairie dogs. Denver7 reached out to a representative with the association but has not yet received a response.