Well I can't get the picture online, but I will try to get it... it's a pic of me and Pistol on the front page of the metro section.
Austin American Statesman
'
Prairie dogs are too lovable a pet to do this'
Federal sales ban worries pet lovers
By Jennifer Barrios
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, June 13, 2003
Still want a giant pouched rat from Gambia to complete your home zoo? You're too late.
Concerns about an outbreak of monkeypox led the federal government Wednesday to ban the sale and transport of that rodent and several other species, including prairie dogs, that can harbor the disease.
But that ban is causing concern about the prairie dog's future as a pet.
Misty O'Neal, 25, keeps three prairie dogs at her house in Round Rock.
"They are just the most loving. They like to give kisses; they love to be held and petted," she said.
"Prairie dogs are too lovable a pet to do this," O'Neal said. That's like saying, `Well, there was a family in another state that had a dog that had rabies and it infected two people, so now we're going to stop selling dogs altogether.' "
Susan Buttenhoff runs Susan's Prairie Dogs out of her Temple home. She even converted her dining room into a prairie dog paradise, substituting cages and matting for the usual dinette. But Buttenhoff, who has so many prairie dogs that counting them is a burden, thinks the attention on the rodents is unfair.
"When people think prairie dogs, they think monkeypox, and that's not the case," Buttenhoff said.
Her classified ad now boasts that her animals are monkeypox free, largely in response to the flood of calls she got from worried would-be customers. But because of the ban, Buttenhoff's business is on hold.
"It's not fair, and I think anybody that can prove where (their prairie dogs) came from and can prove that theirs are healthy" should be able to sell them, she said.
Buttenhoff said she had six orders for prairie dogs placed Thursday that she is prohibited from filling.
It is unclear what the long-term effects of the ban will be.
Lynda Watson, a self-described "prairie dog lady," captures the rodents in Lubbock to save them from death at the hands of the city, which views them as pests. That program could face an uncertain future.
The ban, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is an attempt to stanch the monkeypox outbreak that is suspected of sickening at least 50 people in four states. No one has died of the disease.
The first human case of monkeypox in the United States is thought to have been contracted from infected prairie dogs, which in turn might have been infected by contact with a Gambian giant pouched rat.
The prairie dogs that were suspected of transmitting monkeypox are believed to have come from U.S. Global Exotics, Inc., an Arlington distributor.
The disease has prompted many to question how the Gambian rat and other exotic creatures were allowed into the country.
Despite a phalanx of state and federal agencies that have jurisdiction over wildlife coming into the country, there are few regulations on the importation into Texas of exotic species that are not protected, endangered or threatened.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture doesn't regulate the importation of
exotic animals.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department requires all wildlife shipments to be declared, but it requires permits for shipments of only endangered, threatened or protected species.
And the CDC can issue a ban on animals only after they are suspected of contributing to an outbreak of human disease.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has no authority over non-native species, and the Texas Department of Health regulates the importation of animals into Texas only if they pose a threat to human health.
Texas has been regulating the trade in native species, including prairie dogs, since 1999.
Prairie dog dealers in Texas must get permits from the Parks and Wildlife Department and the USDA in order to operate.
"Our agency doesn't have authority over exotic wildlife -- only native wildlife," said John Herron, chief of wildlife diversity for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. "One would think we're involved, but the import of exotics is fairly unregulated."
jbarrios@statesman.com; 445-3698
THEN...
Check out this review that was placed right next to the article by a critic!!!
John Kelso
A doggone poor excuse for a pet
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, June 13, 2003
There are too many animals these days being turned into house pets that instead ought to be sold as hand muffs in gift shops.
Take the prairie dog, a cute and cuddly, small, brown rodent. Prairie dogs burrow so many holes in the ground that people have been driven to suck them up for relocation with special prairie dog vacuum machines. Because of an outbreak in the Midwest of a disease called monkeypox, the sale of prairie dogs at pet stores nationwide has been stopped.
Seems the outbreak could possibly be traced to some prairie dogs that might have been infected at an Illinois pet store by a Gambian giant pouched rat.
What are rats doing at a pet store? Why would you spend money on a rat? Heck, you can find one for cheap in your garage -- with a wedge of Gorgonzola and a springloaded trap. Why would you want a prairie dog as a pet? Last time I looked, the pounds were full of real dogs that need homes.
Sure, people will tell you that prairie dogs can be trained to get up on the couch. But they'll never replace an actual dog. This is why they didn't pick a prairie dog to play Lassie.
One good thing about having a prairie dog is that if you were trying to sneak it into a motel that doesn't allow pets, you could hide it under your armpit. But let's face it. There are some critters that are meant to be pampered, and others that were meant to be a pair of slippers.
The prairie dog is a member of a family of animals I refer to as the fast-pitch group. You've heard of the herding group and the working group. Let me introduce you to the fast-pitch group: It's any number of small animals that you could pick up and use in a fast-pitch softball game.
Not that I'm blaming prairie dogs for monkeypox. Sounds as if the rat started it. It's just that you might not want a prairie dog around the house. If left unattended, it might eat the wiring in your TV set. Then the prairie dog shorts out. And you end up on the evening news.
Still, the sale of prairie dogs as pets has become so pervasive that they're even popular in Lubbock. Pet prairie dogs in Lubbock: Who woulda thunk it?
"We sell a pretty good amount of 'em, yeah -- probably three or four a week, at least," said Tommy Vernon, a manager at Pets Plus in Lubbock.
Because of monkeypox, the store had to stop selling prairie dogs Wednesday. Tommy said a prairie dog used to go for $99.99. Tommy and the pet store owner catch the prairie dogs by hosing water from a 500-gallon tank down the holes into their faces, then grabbing them.
"The water is kind of cool, and it slows 'em down, and I guess it surprises them so much that they don't react much at all," he said. "They're pretty calm about the whole thing."
So the prairie dogs are getting a free bath. Ever known a groomer to give a summer trim to a prairie dog? No, you haven't. This is because rodents look funny in pink bows.
By the way, that reminds me of the old joke: You know what looks good on a prairie dog? How about a boa constrictor?
John Kelso's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 445-3606 or
jkelso@statesman.com.
As for John Kelso 
I've heard his medical condition can be quite painful. Let's hope they find a cure for Headupyourarseitus soon. 
@ CatP !!!!
