Black-tailed prairie dogs are currently found in less than 2% of the area they inhabited only a century ago. The population reduction has resulted from a number of factors including intensive control programs, conversion of habitat to croplands, disease known as sylvatic plague, urbanization, and unregulated recreational shooting. Management of this species varies significantly across its range where its standing or classification by different states includes extirpated, small game species, wildlife, rodent and vertebrate pest, and species of special concern. In the public eye, its importance varies just as broadly with polarized viewpoints ranging from "tremendous ecological importance to prairie lands" to "pest." The following resources provide additional information on the life history and management of the black-tailed prairie dog.