The Nation’s Biggest Mall Slated to Kill One of the Largest Prairie Dog Colonies on Colorado’s Front
Range.
Recently I heard news that our county (Douglas in Colorado) was getting one of the nation’s biggest malls. The news simultaneously sunk my heart and angered me. Why the hell do we need another mall? To consume the world? Then my mind raced to the location of the mall, and the prairie dogs that live there. I had been worried about this colony before, about the strong possibility that the remaining colonies comprising hundreds of prairie dogs would be destroyed for some kind of development. After all, a Lowe’s store, an outlet mall, a housing project, and a tire store had occupied their territory and had already killed thousands of these dogs in the name of “development.” And this was the final solution for the 3,000 to 8,000 remaining burrows: complete annihilation of the prairie dogs for a shopping mall set to cover 170 acres in concrete.
Once the news sunk in, I called the town of Castle Rock, where the new mall is slated to be developed and spoke with the government official in charge of the construction. I was given the contact information of the individual working with Alberta Development (the development company constructing the mall) on the prairie dog “problem.” She was kind and helpful, as developers are trained to be when it comes to dealing with “pesky environmentalists” and let me know that the current plan for the prairie dogs was to cage them, kill them, and send them off to the nearest raptor farm to feed the birds. All the dogs. Hundreds of prairie dog families sucked up out of their only homes, caged, killed, and fed to the raptors. She informed me they had tried to find new places for them to be relocated, but had no success, so this was the only possibility left for the prairie dogs. She extended an invitation to help her find relocation areas with assurance that if we found a place, they would cover the costs for the relocation and support us in any way they could to make that transfer happen. All I needed to do was find private land owners in Douglas County who were willing to have prairie dogs on their land. I knew that in our county, it would not be easy to locate such land owners. Ranchers and conservatives have a long history of deep-seated hatred for these animals as they perceive prairie dogs as a nuisance and a threat to their cash herds and crops. Landowners by and large are perfectly willing to accept prairie dog extermination as good business practice.
Much more at link... http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2015/01/31/the-nations-biggest-mall-slated-to-kill-one-of-the-largest-prairie-dog-colonies-on-colorados-front-range/
Yet another reason to stop shopping and take a look around to see what we're destroying at our own peril.
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that scares me along with those who proclaim that they are not willing to give up all those distractions and that their stance only gives them the power to show tptb who's boss... all while tptb are laughing at them and squeezing us even more.
I am concerned about my beautiful nieces and nephews who are in their prime right now.
I think the deal is, that the really HUGE malls, like Mall of America, become destinations, kinda like Disney World. So while your local and semi-local, run-of-the-mill malls might not do so well, the "destination" malls like this proposed one, can get investors who think people will come for the "experience".
Although I personally don't see why anyone would want that experience. But then there's NASCAR and people go to that...
but then, who has the money to build such a monstrosity? Somebody who has too much money to burn, perhaps they need a pricey insurance claim when something doesn't go well. Construction issues, fires, tornadoes, lack of business to support it makes for profit losses... maybe some short seller needs something to bet against.
Whatever the reason it is an outright slap in the face to those of us who can see the environmental collapse ahead. (Over here in Montana those who are trying to keep the bison inside the park seem to take some sick pleasure in mistreating these animals while their advocates look on in handcuffs. The abusers sneer at the advocates with utter disdain and actually extend the abuse for the sake of their own sick pleasure in showing the advocates that they can mistreat these majestic animals and get away with it. So there's that...) And I have no doubt that those who insist we need yet another worthless shopping center will find some sick satisfaction in knowing they are trashing the environment while the rest of us look on in disgust and sorrow.
