Wildlife

Prairie Dogs Perishing From Plague Bacterium

An outbreak among prairie dogs of the same bacterium that caused the Black Death threatens to alter the American grassland habitat in profound ways, biologists warn.

Many black-tailed prairie dogs have already died from the infection, and Arizona health officials said in early April that they had found a den with an unusually large number of dead or dying prairie dogs.

Samples taken from the site near Flagstaff tested positive for Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for bubonic plague.

The pathogen first arrived in the Great Plains around 1900.

The resulting deaths of prairie dogs since then have caused a decline in other native species that depend on the animal for its burrowing activities and for food.

Efforts are underway to eradicate the flea that spreads the bacterium among the prairie dogs, using an insecticide called delta dust.

If you normally see prairie dogs then next day they’re gone, there is a good chance plague is coming.