Prairie Dog Day Won't Be a Colorado Holiday Any Time Soon, But We Will Make Dead Marmot Robots

This week was big for enviros in Boulder, but I wanted to give a quick nod to a quixotic effort to recognize rodents.

But lost among the very cool news of local director Louie Psihoyos' "The Cove" nabbing an Oscar nomination for best documentary was the plight of an attempt to create a new holiday: Prairie Dog Day. Perhaps feeling that groundhogs get a little too much attention this time of year, environmentalists asked that we all stop to consider the not-quite-endangered black-tailed Prairie Dog.

No, I didn't hear of any prairie dog parties or festivals, and I certainly didn't hear about anybody gathering 'round any holes to see if a prairie dog would pop out (though there was the one remote-controlled dead marmot about which I am not kidding). That starts about 4:23 in this video, and is somehow funnier at 5:39:

He's more machine than marmot now....

Sorry, Team Prairie Dog Day, but your holiday just wasn't meant to be. But I will wave at the little guys next time I'm on the bike paths out east of 30th Street.