SHIELDS, N.D. (AP) — On a wall in Shields Bar, between mounted heads of deer and pronghorn, are seven charts tracking 23,895 kills.
Each number represents a dead black-tailed prairie dog.
Another 4,912 prairie dogs were shot in six hours during the 8th Annual Prairie Dog Extravaganza, a competition that drew 70 shooters to this tiny south-central North Dakota town earlier this month.
To local ranchers, it's another battle in an ongoing war against land-wrecking pests. To animal-rights activists, it's an unnecessary slaughter.
Richard Ternes, who has about 275 cattle, said the prairie dogs are preventing grazing on his land — killing grass by digging tunnel networks.
"We're going to get overpopulated with them and we won't be able to do anything about it," Ternes said. "The land is going to be worth nothing."
During the shoot, organized by the Selfridge-Shields Sportsman Club, participants pair up and spread out to prairie dog colonies within a 30-mile radius of the town. The top 10 shooters win $1,900 in prize money.
Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife biologist with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Norfolk, Va., said the annual shoot is not solving the problem.
"They're just killing a lot of animals for fun," she said.
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is working on a plan to maintain a "viable" prairie dog population, said spokesman Mike McKenna. It has not yet determined what level is viable.
Al Schauer, who enjoys the camaraderie of the shoot and has showed up for all eight events in Shields, said anyone who wants to find out how prairie dogs affect ranchers should "get some land and put cattle on it."
"Most of the people that complain the most about them have never seen this area or lived here," he said, while taking a break from the shoot.