CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) — Most mornings, wildlife biologist Jessica Van Woeart and her team of technicians go to work armed with peanut butter.

They use it to help trap prairie dogs and move them away from people in upscale subdivisions and across rural pastures in southern Utah. The residents say they've been under siege from the small burrowing rodents for years.

Her team is doing something that was relatively rare and complicated until last year, when a federal court judge removed endangered species protections for the Utah prairie dog, which is the smallest of five species and lives in underground colonies in the southern part of the state.

But activists say the ruling could also weaken protections for similar animals all over the country. The case is set to come before a federal appeals court in Denver on Monday.