'Rodenator,' Anti-Prairie Dog Explosive Device, Has Neighbors Upset

BOULDER, Colo. -- Landowners have been using an explosive, state-approved device to blow up prairie dog holes – and some neighbors don't like it.

The Daily Camera reported Thursday the Colorado Wildlife Commission approved the "Rodenator" in 2006. It explodes burrows by igniting a propane mixture pumped into the holes.

Nearby residents in Boulder have complained the method is cruel, inhumane and extremely loud. Some have reported seeing prairie dogs on fire.

Boulder County sheriff's officials have estimated the explosions exceed the county's sound limit of 50 to 55 decibels.

Employees at a ranch where the device is being used say it isn't meant to kill the animals.

It's illegal to use Rodenator in Boulder, but not in the county, where the ranch is located.

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Comments

[Rodenator]

02:50 PM on 03/22/2011

If you take a close look at the Rodenator you will see that it a very humane device for eliminating burrowing pest animals. The user of the device controls the mixture of propane to oxygen going down the tunnel system, so if the pests are coming out of the hole on fire, it is being used in the wrong way. The Rodenator kills the animals instantly; it does not burn them or suffocate them. This article is not telling the story accurately. Before you judge the Rodenator, educate yourself by visiting the website at rodenator.com. It is humane, and safe for the environment with no harmful poisons or chemicals being used. Death is instant according independent laboratory studies, would you rather the animal die a painful death by a steel trap, or a long painful death due to poisons? But if you must be ignorant about it, we thank you. The free press we are receiving from Boulder is making our phones ring off the hook and sending Rodenators out the door to a place near you. Thank you City of Boulder, your ignorance is good for business.
Respectfully,
Rodenator

[Will Cornelsen]

12:33 PM on 03/22/2011

It's more fun to shoot them with a 2-43 and see them pop out of the ground like a carnival game...

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

10:23 AM on 03/22/2011

Somebody arrest Bill Murray!

[TexasTreader]

10:28 AM on 03/22/2011

"Varmint Cong."

[JimCull]

10:20 PM on 03/21/2011

What a great game

[ColoradoTaxpayer]

02:17 PM on 03/21/2011

We have friends that live on the southwestern slope, Nucla. About 20 years ago they tried to start a Prarie Dog shoot with other ranchers in the area. Due to the PETA people, they had to stop it. If you have never had to put a horse down or lose a animal to a hole then you have no idea how destructive these rats are. They don't go away...they just move to another piece of land. We have these disputes every year...it is just something to distract the lemmings.

[grossmont325]

02:40 PM on 03/21/2011

I have family members that run cattle about 60 miles north of Portland, Oregon--and it definitely makes sense to keep prairie dogs in check--it gets expensive real quick when you have to put down livestock d/t broken legs--and the more grass prairie dogs eat-- the less productive the range is

[5ilver]

10:53 PM on 03/20/2011

Pumping prairie dog tunnels full of propane and igniting it to collapse the tunnels has been around for decades. The optimal way to rid of these pests is with poison, or just let nature (i.e. plague) takes it inevitable course. Then you collapse the tunnels in this manner. A tool like this is probably only useful in areas that you can't use the poison for various reasons.

[5ilver]

12:57 PM on 03/20/2011

Those of you outraged by this should know that this is really nothing new. Farmers and ranchers have been pumping propane down praire dog holes for decades. Why? Not to kill the dogs, but to collapse the tunnels so livestock don't step in them and break their legs. The preferred method to kill these pests (and far more effective) is with poison, or by natural means (i.e. let plague wipe out the town). Then, propane is used to collapse the tunnels. Though the Rodenator is probably somewhat effective in killing dogs in their tunnels (the concusion from the blast would probably paralize some and then they would be buried in their own holes), I doubt you would find many farmers/ranchers that would want to do it that way. Simple reason is, the ones that survived would just go dig more tunnels. Not what the rancher wants at all. Also, there would probably be a risk of fire when a burning dog comes running out of its hole. Good way to set your grasslands ablaze.

I personally prefer the .223 method, but it is really more for fun then for trying to wipe out an entire praire dog town.

[ontariogirl]

12:50 PM on 03/20/2011

Caddyshack.

[padoodle]

12:01 PM on 03/20/2011

That's on par with Sarah Palin's method of shooting wolf puppies from a helicopter.
SHAME ON COLORADO...
People need to not so many kids. Too many people/Too little else left.

[1differentdrummer]

06:12 AM on 03/20/2011

I know they're cute little guys, but don't they denude vegetation and carry plague infected fleas sometimes?

[5ilver]

10:56 PM on 03/20/2011

Had they called them what they really are - prairie rats - people probably wouldn't find them nearly as cute. But who can resist a cuddly uddly praire dog. I welcome all the enviro's to come on out to a praiire dog town and cuddle them to your hearts content. When you go home with plague fleas, you might see why Ranchers are forced to do the things they do.

[mudshark12]

02:55 AM on 03/20/2011

Prairie Dogs have every right to exist and are part of the local ecological balance. If we humans keep ripping pieces (species) out of this natural "machine" pretty soon it wont work anymore. Then we will be kaput.

[rockyroad]

02:34 AM on 03/20/2011

Heartbreaking.

[5ilver]

10:56 PM on 03/20/2011

Necessary.

[Nopal Joe]

01:03 AM on 03/20/2011

"Some have reported seeing prairie dogs on fire."

Enough said. Stop it Colorado ranchers.

[5ilver]

10:59 PM on 03/20/2011

I doubt this ever happened. A propane explosion under ground does not produce a fireball to begin with - not enough oxygen, so there is no chance that dogs are catching on fire. Silly. If it did, why would a Rancher choose to use it? Do you think he wants to risk setting his grasslands on fire? Come on people, grow a brain please. I hear the left proclaiming themselves intellectual superiors all the time, yet when it comes to how real world things are done, you all seem pretty clueless.

[Nopal Joe]

05:25 PM on 03/21/2011

You doubting it possible, does not make it impossible. Last I checked, propane was flammable. I learn that in the real world.

[azatrox]

11:56 PM on 03/19/2011

I would use a more natural approach: rattlesnakes.

[hagagaga]

10:02 PM on 03/19/2011

This thing is awesome.

[syndibird]

10:48 PM on 03/19/2011

"some humans ain't humans" – john prine...

[maxwelldog]

12:34 AM on 03/20/2011

true enough.