Susan Honeycutt, center, was one of about 15 people who protested outside Calvary Bible Church in north Boulder on Friday afternoon. The protesters, coordinated by Rocky Mountain Animal Defense and Wild Places, a prairie dog relocation firm, said they believe the owners of the property have obtained permits to kill the animals.

Demonstrators incorporated Jesus into their Friday afternoon animal-rights protest outside a north Boulder church, saying prairie dogs on the property could be relocated rather than killed.

Susan Honeycutt, director of the nonprofit Wild Places prairie dog relocation firm, said she believes there are about a dozen prairie dogs on the church`s property that will be killed even though she has offered to relocate the animals for free. Honeycutt said she had a verbal agreement from a property owner who would have taken the prairie dogs.

On Friday, Honeycutt and about 15 other people protested at the corner of 28th Street and Kalmia Avenue, an intersection near the Calvary Bible Church. Honeycutt held a cardboard sign that said: "What would Jesus do?? STOP killing prairie dogs." Another protester held a sign that read: "Thou shall not kill."

Officials with the church could not be reached for comment Friday.

According to the October edition of CrossLinks, the church`s newsletter, Calvary Bible`s property recently was annexed by the city.

"Soon we will have city sanitation, new parking lots and landscaping, and a campus with a shape designed for our future growth," the newsletter reads.

It`s unclear whether the church, at 3245 Kalmia Ave., is the property owner or whether it obtained a permit from the city. Attorneys for the city have argued the city doesn`t have to release the names of property owners who apply for lethal control permits under the state open records law.

City offices were closed Friday afternoon and officials could not be reached for comment.

Animal-rights activists said they believe the church has obtained the permit it needs to legally kill prairie dogs.

Dave Crawford, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Animal Defense, said he tried unsuccessfully to communicate with church leaders to try and change their minds about killing prairie dogs. While he says it appears the church has obtained the permit it needs to legally kill prairie dogs, he criticized the city for making that permit too easy to get.

Boulder`s wildlife ordinance requires property owners to demonstrate they`ve looked at alternatives to killing - such as relocation - and show that they weren`t practical. Also, the city`s ordinance doesn`t allow property owners to kill prairie dogs unless it`s to make way for imminent development.

But Crawford said the city hasn`t required property owners to make a compelling case.

"They have jumped through the legal hoops, certainly," he said. "But the legal hoop was something you could just stumble through. The city is not requiring nearly as much diligence as was intended by City Council."

Rocky Mountain Animal Defense is planning to challenge the city`s interpretation of the law in court.

"The bottom line is that a church in Boulder is poisoning prairie dogs," Crawford said Friday during the protest.

Crawford said he thinks at least two prairie dogs have been killed so far.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Ryan Morgan at (303) 473-1333 or morganr@dailycamera.com.