According to the reading passage, prairie
dogs should be exterminated since they cause harm in some methods. However, the
lecturer contends that there are serious issues.
First, the lecturer argues that burrows of
prairie dogs never damage the land. In contrast, they prevent the soil from
being weathered. After holes are made by prairie dogs, the soil become looser,
so the water is much easier to penetrate the ground and it makes less erosion
occurs. This casts doubt on the reading passage's claim that the burrows digged
by prairie dogs make the land unstable and cause erosion.
Second, the reading passage says that
prairie dogs infect people with a significant disease. Since many of them are
carrying bubonic plague and often bite people to cause death. However, the
lecturer claims that it is unlikely that prairie dogs make people infected.
People are more likely to be infected by other animals such as rats. In addition,
prairie dogs are good at avoiding humans, they don't have many chances to
interact. So it is not necessary to kill all of them.
Finally, the lecturer asserts that prairie
dogs help increase the nutrients of plants. After their consuming, new leaves
with more nutrients will grow from the plants. And the livestock prefers these
kinds of new plants because they are way much healthier to themselves. This
refutes the reading passage's claim that prairie dogs have negative effect on
the food supply for livestock by eating up 90 percent of the vegetation and
reducing farmers' profits. |