Prairie Dogs that were on the loose at an East Lothian open farm have now been captured and secured in a special enclosure under the first agreement of its kind to control invasive non-native species in Scotland.
Prairie Dogs are rodents – one of the squirrel family - which normally live on North America's prairies and open grasslands.
As land has been converted to farming or pasture, they have often been killed as pests because of their destructive landscaping.
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Prairie Dogs are being kept in secure accommodation
in East Lothian © GBNNSS
(Great Britain Non-Native Species Secretariat)
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Prairie Dogs live in extensive underground warrens of tunnels and chambers, marked by mounds of packed earth at surface entrances.
In East Lothian, the animals were free to roam around East Links Farm Park and it was feared individuals might escape into the neighbouring John Muir Country Park, part of the Forth Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a protected natural area.
In July 2012, Scotland introduced new laws, which are some of the most wide-ranging and comprehensive laws on non-native species in Europe.
The Scottish legislation allows for a staged approach to dealing with escaped non-native species.
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