Many a western teenager has learned about marksmanship by plinking away in a prairie dog town, the hummocky meadows where the creatures live and play.

ECONOMIST: An endangered nuisance

"I have had it with them, " says Paragonah Mayor Connie Robinson, who has a prairie-dog doll with a target on it on the dashboard of her Chevrolet Trailblazer.

WSJ: In Utah, a Town Digs Deep to Battle Prairie Dogs

Only one state, South Dakota, remains plague-free, and it contains about a third of the remaining black-tailed prairie-dog population.

ECONOMIST: An endangered nuisance