UPDATE 04-20 : OUR ARIZONA OPERATIVE, PATRIOT CURTIS POSTS THE LAST SET OF PHOTOS IN HER IN A RUT SERIES (SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW). THEY SHOW THE NEXT GENERATION OF DROOLING P-DAWGS. NOTE HOW THEY'VE ALREADY ADOPTED THEIR PARENTS' VIOLENT WAYS...

ACCORDING TO PATRIOT CURTIS, "THE ARIZONA-SONORA DESERT MUSEUM ANIMAL BEHAVIORIST TOLD ME THAT THEY ARE SEEING ATYPICAL AGGRESSION AMONG THE PDS THIS YEAR AND HAVE INCREASED THE QUALITY AND FREQUENCY OF THEIR FOOD. BUT, THE PDS ARE STILL FIGHTING"

WHY ARE WE NOT SURPRISED?

When we published Patriot Curtis' In A Rut , we clearly demonstrated the not niceness of the bushytail horde. In it, two male p-dawgs wage bloody war during the annual Prairie Dog Rut. The Rut is a brutal match to win the heart of a p-dawgette.

Patriot Curtis' accompanying photos graphically showed the lacerating conflict, the loser's retreat and the victor's triumph (click here for original feature).

Our point: if the drooling skwerlballs will do this to each other, just imagine the fate awaiting mankind should squirrel world domination come to pass (click p-dawg for hideous bark).

In a Rut received kudos from many, but one pathetic skwerlhugger complained in part...

Why would you publish such disgusting photos to show the suffering of a little animal? Isn't there enogh suffering in the world without you adding to it? No one wants to see a prairie dog die...

~ Skwerlhugger Anne

Well, we agree that photos of skwerls are inherently "disgusting." We also agree there's more than enough suffering on the planet. And, it may come as a surprise to Skwerlhugger Anne, the defeated p-dawg warrior didn't die. As you'll see in a moment, he survived, though a little worse for wear.

Be that as it may, we really don't want to offend Anne or anyone else who might find a photographic record of animal behavior disturbing. However, it's our duty to respond to the minions of squirrel world domination who claim that skwerls are "nice." And so, we offer Patriot Curtis' complete In A Rut photo series below.

The series includes the original Rut set and three photos of the vanquished, but still alive p-dawg a few days later. It also includes a post-Rut phenomena: female p-dawgs in a horrific battle. However, they're not competing for mates. Female p-dawgs invade their neighbors' burrows to eat their babies. Nice!

- THE PRAIRIE DOG RUT (REVISITED) -
all photos courtesy of Patriot Curtis
click thumbnails for large versions

- DUELLING DIABLOS -
     

     
Male p-dawgs maul each other over winsome dawgette (top left)

- RAMBO RETURNS -
   
Wounds heal and chicks dig scars

- WHEN THE RUT'S OVER: P-DAWG MOMS MIX IT UP -
       
Eat my baby will you!?!

- THE NEXT GENERATION IN THE CYCLE OF VIOLENCE -


When will it ever end?

There you have it Patriots. From start to finish, there's nothing nice about decadent p-dawg culture. As Patriot Curtis says, these drooling Sciuridae "have a hotbed of sex and violence going on. I think the Attorney General ought to get the morality police out there, do some domestic violence counseling with stiff cage-time sentences, put bras on the girls and make everyone register his or her teeth." Indeed!