The killings of March 5, promptly termed a âmassacreâ by Patriot leaders and commemorated in a widely circulated engraving by Paul Revere, aroused intense public protests and threats of violent retaliation. This pressure caused Lieutenant Governor Thomas Hutchinson to withdraw the troops to an island in the harbor.
Prairie dogs belong to the squirrel family, Sciuridae, which includes squirrels, chipmunks, and marmots, in the Mammalian Order Rodentia. Their scientific name is Cynomys ludovicianus, which means dog mouse of Louisiana. The Black-tailed prairie dog is 12 to 15 inches in length and weighs between 2 and 4 pounds.
What is most remarkable about America's war on prairie dogs is that it's based entirely on a myth -- the scientifically discredited notion that the rodents compete with cattle for grass. Walk through any dog town, as the colonies are called, and you'll see how the superstition got started. The landscape is cratered with burrows, pocked with piles of dirt, and vegetation appears sparse. Prairie dogs chop down a lot of foliage to get a better view of their predators.