Today the Colorado Wildlife Commission voted to close public lands in Colorado to all prairie dog shooting between March 1st and June 15th.  Now Wyoming is the only state within the white-tailed prairie dog's range to allow unrestricted recreational target shooting of prairie dogs while they are breeding and nursing their pups (Montana closed federal lands to white-tailed prairie dog shooting year-round beginning in 2002, and Utah adopted April 1st-June 15th closures on public lands back in 2003).  Center for Native Ecosystems has asked the Commission to set limits on white-tailed prairie dog shooting for the past four years, and we congratulate the Commission for finally taking this commonsense action.  As the Provo Daily Herald wrote when Utah adopted its seasonal closure,  "The least we can do is leave the critters alone while they raise their young."  (April 12, 2004)