No more plague found in prairie dogs

By Steve Miller, Journal Staff Writer | Friday, October 15, 2004

Previous Page

Share

• del.icio.us
• Digg
• NewsVine
• Fark

Print

Email

PIERRE - No more prairie dogs in South Dakota have been found with plague since a prairie dog infected with plague was discovered last month in western Custer County , according to state Game, Fish & Parks officials.

GF&P field personnel have been asked to check the area for plague, said George Vandel, the department's chief wildlife biologist. "It's not difficult to know when plague is in a prairie dog town," Vandel said. "The numbers just go in the toilet."

Plague tests will also be done on coyotes, badgers and fox taken in predator control activities, he said.

Officials said they were not surprised when plague showed up in a prairie dog on the South Dakota side of the border in September, because plague has decimated prairie dog towns just across the line in Wyoming.

Scientists found evidence in 1995 that a badger, a fox and two coyotes killed in South Dakota had been exposed to plague but had not succumbed to it.

Plague is highly contagious and has killed a large number of prairie dogs in eastern Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and other states.

Humans and pets can get plague from prairie dogs, although the risk to humans is considered low, state veterinarian Sam Holland has said.

Meanwhile, Vandel said he and other GF&P personnel are doing final tweaking of the much-revised state prairie dog management plan.

He said he hopes to have the plan ready for review soon by GF&P Secretary John Cooper and state Agriculture Secretary Larry Gabriel. After their review, the plan will be shared with key legislators and members of a working group representing grazing and wildlife interests.

Vandel said he hoped the plan would be ready for public release in November. It will then go to the Legislature early next year.

He said the state plan would generally be consistent with a prairie dog control plan that the state and three federal agencies announced in August, even though a lawsuit by environmental groups has resulted in changes in the plans to poison prairie dogs on federal land.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com