The Hays Daily News

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Poisoning stops in Logan County

Published on -9/11/2007, 12:57 PM

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By MIKE CORN Hays Daily News A Shawnee County District Judge on Monday afternoon issued a temporary restraining order halting the poisoning of prairie dogs on land targeted for the reintroduction of black-footed ferrets. After receiving a copy of the document from his attorney, Logan County rancher Larry Haverfield rushed off to deliver it to the applicators who were trying to gain access to land owned by Gordon Barnhardt. Haverfield said the applicator, Don Walter, Tribune, already had been rebuffed by the padlocked gate on Barnhardt's land. Walter had called Haverfield, seeking entry; Haverfield suggested he call Barnhardt instead. "They haven't gone in," Haverfield said Monday after returning from trying to give a copy of the restraining order to Walter. "I went all the way around to make sure." "They were gone. I assume they will find out about it overnight." The Tribune-based firm, hired by Logan County, had completed its task of poisoning a 100-yard-wide border, three-quarters of a mile long on Haverfield's land. "It's not very pretty," Haverfield said of the area poisoned. Fences were down, and at least one prairie dog was being feasted on by a hawk and four vultures. "They got everything killed over there," Haverfield said. "There won't be anything moving." Walter had learned of the restraining order and was not back out this morning. He could not be reached for comment at either his home or his cell phone. The extermination crew swept in Friday evening and started poisoning the prairie dogs with Phostoxin, a poisonous gas that ultimately kills everything in the burrow where the tablet is thrown. A small sand bag is used to plug the hole to ensure that nothing can get out. The crew of four worked Friday evening, Saturday and part of Sunday to cover the area permitted on Haverfield's land. On Monday, after rain stopped falling, the group moved east to land owned by Barnhardt. The restraining order will remain in place, Wichita attorney Randy Rathbun said this morning, unless either Logan County or the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, which issued the permit, decides to request it be set aside. If that happens, a hearing will be set in Shawnee County District Court, where the restraining order was requested. Any action against KDWP must be filed in Shawnee County. It was that permit that Walter used to refuse a request by Haverfield on Friday to leave the area. Such a permit, however, does not carry that authority, according to KDWP assistant secretary for operations Keith Sexson. Rathbun had complained about the county's tactic of coming in after courts had closed for the weekend to start its poisoning. "We had an agreement with them that they'd give us two day's notice," Rathbun said during the weekend. This morning, he said the notice was an agreement that didn't get included in the court settlement that disposed of a lawsuit filed by the county against the Logan County landowners. "Normally, when I shake hands with someone, that's what I expect will happen," he said. Logan County Commissioner Carl Uhrich, who has pushed for the extermination of the prairie dogs, said they were "pretty much" abiding by the terms of the settlement agreement. Special-projects coordinator Mike Corn can be reached at (785) 628-1081, Ext. 129, or by e-mail at mcorn@dailynews.net.