Psst. Fence. Pass it on

You love 'em or you hate 'em. We're talking prairie dogs. North of here, in the Boulder/Broomfield counties area, folks just can't agree about the little critters. So they're compromising by putting up a fence, according to an Associated Press story that moved this weekend. The 2,400-foot fence is supposed to keep the 'dogs on the Boulder side, where they are protected, and keep them away from the Broomfield side, where they are despised. Volunteers erected the fence out of chicken wire and pegs that they hope will keep the prairie dogs on the side where they are welcomed. Will it work? Boulder County wildlife biologist Mark Brennan explains that prairie dogs will walk until they reach a vertical barrier and then try to dig under it. A two-foot apron of wire is designed to stop them, but Brennan says the persistent animals will eventually find a way over, around or under the fence.