Hillcrest Cemetery going to the dogs
Residents says prairie dogs have overrun graveyard

A prairie dog rests on a ledge at Hillcrest Cemetery. The animals have overrun the cemetery, creating large holes in and around gravesites. [photo by Brian Leddy / Independent]

By Kevin Killough
Staff writer

GALLUP — Prairie dogs are a problem across the city, but the invading critters are especially offensive when they’re digging into your parents’ grave.

Nick Bubany said that the problem at the Hillcrest graveyard is out of control and the city won’t do anything about it.

Repeated requests have been ignored. Bubany said that parts of the cemetery contain graves from the early 1900s when coffins were just pinewood boxes. By now, they’d be rotted away, meaning it’s quite possible that the rodents are burrowing into the corpses of the deceased.

“I take care of my mother’s and father’s grave, and there’s literally hundreds of them,” Bubany said.

The city uses a device called a rodenator to deal with the problem. The rodenator pumps a mixture of propane and oxygen into the prairie dog’s burrows and ignites. Director of Public Works Stan Henderson questions the effectiveness of the method. He likens it to the problems to the Vietcong tunnels, which were especially difficult for American veterans in Vietnam.

“I suspect they build traps and when they smell the gas, they start piling up dirt and wait for the boom,” Henderson said.

Director of Golf Operations Bob Weekes said he believes that the rodenator is effective dealing with the problem. He said the pumping process lasts only for a minute or so, which would give the prairie dogs little time to respond. He says the concussion of the blast is what kills them.

“It’s suppose to be humane. It’s very quick,” Weekes said.
Whether or not the city is doing anything about the problem at the cemeteries is uncertain. Director of Parks Ben Welch, who is in charge of the city’s cemeteries, did not return calls seeking comment for this story. Across the graveyard, the problem is quite visible. Many graves have burrows right on top and under gravestones.

“I don’t think I’d want to be buried and have to share my grave with a prairie dog,” Bubany said.