Editing Prairie dog (section)

==In captivity==
{{Multiple images
|direction = vertical
|width = 220
|image1 =Prairie_dogs_nest.jpg
|caption1 = Prairie dogs are gaining popularity as zoo animals.
|image2 = PrairieDogs.theora.ogv
|caption2 = South-central Wisconsin, U.S.
|image3 = Prairie dog on a leash.jpg
|caption3 = Pet prairie dogs can be leash trained
}}

[[File:Prairie dog at the Minnesota Zoo.jpg|thumb|Prairie dog at the Minnesota Zoo]]

Until 2003, primarily black-tailed prairie dogs were collected from the wild for the exotic pet trade in Canada, the United States, Japan, and Europe. They were removed from their burrows each spring, as young pups, with a large vacuum device.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.cnn.com/EARTH/9612/16/sucking.dogs/|date=16 December 1996 | title=CNN: What's that giant sucking sound on prairie? | access-date=10 October 2009}}</ref> They can be difficult to breed in captivity,<ref name=r4/> but breed well in zoos. Removing them from the wild was a far more common method of supplying the market demand.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kPFW95tjKpQC&q=Prairie+dog+removal+from+wild+for+market+demand&pg=PA149|title=Behavior of Exotic Pets|last=Tynes|first=Valarie V.|date=2010|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9780813800783|language=en}}</ref>

They can be difficult pets to care for, requiring regular attention and a very specific diet of grasses and hay. Each year, they go into a period called [[Estrous cycle|rut]] that can last for several months, in which their personalities can drastically change, often becoming defensive or even aggressive. Despite their needs, prairie dogs are very social animals and come to seem as though they treat humans as members of their colony.

In mid-2003, due to cross-contamination at a [[Madison, Wisconsin]]-area pet swap from an [[quarantine|unquarantined]] [[Gambian pouched rat]] imported from [[Ghana]], several prairie dogs in captivity acquired [[monkeypox]], and subsequently a few humans were also infected. This led the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] (CDC) and [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA) to issue a joint order banning the sale, trade, and transport within the United States of prairie dogs (with a few exceptions).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/monkeypox/qa.htm |title=CDC: Questions & Answers About Monkey Pox |access-date=18 April 2006}}</ref> The disease was never introduced to any wild populations. The [[European Union]] also banned importation of prairie dogs in response.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.bornfree.org.uk/zoocheck/zcnews34.htm
|title=Born Free: EU bans rodent imports following monkeypox outbreak
|publisher=bornfree.org.uk
|date=June 2003
|access-date=13 October 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060501182711/http://www.bornfree.org.uk/zoocheck/zcnews34.htm
|archive-date=1 May 2006}}</ref>

All ''Cynomys'' species are classed as a "prohibited new organism" under New Zealand's [[Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996]], preventing them from being imported into the country.<ref>{{citation| url=http://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1996/0030/latest/DLM386556.html#DLM386556|title=Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 2003 – Schedule 2 Prohibited new organisms|publisher=New Zealand Government |access-date=26 January 2012}}</ref>

Prairie dogs are also very susceptible to [[Bubonic plague]], and many wild colonies have been wiped out by it.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/btprairiedog/plague.htm |title=Plague and Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs|date=23 March 1999|work=U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://campusapps.fullerton.edu/news/research/2004/stapp.html |publisher=California State University |title=Biologist Studies Plague and Prairie Dogs |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080210193705/http://campusapps.fullerton.edu/news/research/2004/stapp.html |archive-date=10 February 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/18/science/18ferr.html?_r=1&oref=slogin |title=Endangered, Rescued, Now in Trouble Again |work=The New York Times |first=Jim |last=Robbins |date=18 April 2006 |access-date=22 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hoogland |first=John L. |title=The Black-Tailed Prairie Dog: Social Life of a Burrowing Mammal |year=1995 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-35117-3 |page=80}}</ref> Also, in 2002, a large group of prairie dogs in captivity in [[Texas]] were found to have contracted [[tularemia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/oct02/021001g.asp |title=AVMA: Tularemia Outbreak Identified in Pet Prairie Dogs |access-date=18 April 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060402234656/http://avma.org/onlnews/javma/oct02/021001g.asp |archive-date=2 April 2006 }}</ref> The prairie dog ban is frequently cited by the CDC as a successful response to the threat of [[zoonosis]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/outbreak.html |title=Monkeypox-Outbreak: How was the outbreak contained? |access-date= 6 January 2017}}</ref>

Prairie dogs that were in captivity at the time of the ban in 2003 were allowed to be kept under a [[grandfather clause]], but were not to be bought, traded, or sold, and transport was permitted only to and from a [[veterinarian]] under quarantine procedures.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2003/06/18/03-15423/control-of-communicable-diseases |title=CDC: Notice of Embargo... of certain rodents and Prairie dogs issued 06/18/2003 |date=18 June 2003 |access-date= 6 January 2017}}</ref>

On 8 September 2008, the FDA and CDC rescinded the ban, making it once again legal to capture, sell, and transport prairie dogs.<ref>[http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-20779.pdf Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 174] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225051702/http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-20779.pdf |date=25 February 2012 }}. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2013-01-04.</ref> Although the federal ban has been lifted, several states still have in place their own ban on prairie dogs.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bornfreeusa.org/b4a2_exotic_animals_summary.php |title=Born Free: Summary of State Laws Relating to Private Possession of Exotic Animals |access-date= 6 January 2017}}</ref>

The [[European Union]] has not lifted its ban on imports from the U.S. of animals captured in the wild. Major European Prairie Dog Associations, such as the Italian ''Associazione Italiana Cani della Prateria'', remain against import from the United States, due to the high death rate of wild captures.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mondocdp.it/|title=Untitled Document|website=mondocdp.it|access-date=29 January 2012|archive-date=19 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111219151648/http://www.mondocdp.it/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canedellaprateria.it|title=Cane della prateria|website=canedellaprateria.it}}</ref> Several zoos in Europe have stable prairie dog colonies that generate enough surplus pups to saturate the EU internal demand, and several associations help owners to give adoption to captive-born animals.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adoptapet.com/s/prairie-dog-adoption |title=Adoptapet.com: Prairie Dogs |access-date= 6 January 2017}}</ref>

Prairie dogs in captivity may live up to 10 years.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1eacJfpIXJsC | title=Prairie Dogs: Everything about Purchase, Care, Nutrition, Handling, and Behavior|page= 19 |access-date= 6 January 2017|isbn=9780764121036 |last1=Vanderlip |first1=Sharon Lynn |year=2002 |publisher=Barron's Educational Series }}</ref>