While residents of major cities contend with problems surrounding urban sprawl, it now appears that some animal species are being forced to do so as well. This, according to a recent article in USA Today, which notes that wildlife officials now confirm that a unique form of urban sprawl caused by flourishing prairie dog populations is causing problems in several western states. Yes, it seems that black-tailed prairie dogs are expanding their towns of underground burrows so dramatically that they are bumping up against human farms, airports and residential communities, and efforts to try to stem the growth of their settlements are becoming problematic because they are often a protected species. Time will tell how this nature-induced urban sprawl will take to re-zoning.