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Conata Basin ferrets may have plague
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FarkPlague likely has already infected some of the endangered black-footed ferrets in Conata Basin, a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service official said Tuesday.
Sylvatic plague was confirmed last week in prairie dogs in Conata Basin, the site of a major black-footed ferret reintroduction area, just south of Badlands National Park.
Wildlife experts haven't been able to survey the area yet for evidence of plague in ferrets, Fish and Wildlife biologist Scott Larson of Pierre said. But he added: "We kind of suspect, if past history at other sites shows, once you are able to see those dead prairie dogs on the surface, the ferrets probably have already been infected in that area. I almost hate to say that," Larson said.
Plague wiped out black-footed ferret populations at three reintroduction sites in Montana, Larson said.
Ferrets get plague much like prairie dogs, Larson said. They can get it from fleas that carry the disease or by eating dead prairie dogs infected with plague. They can also catch it from each other through coughing and sneezing. Prairie dogs are the main source of food for ferrets.
"We kind of suspect that's how the big die-offs occur," Larson said.
The federal government has spent millions of dollars on the ferret recovery program. Once believed to be extinct, a small colony of black-footed ferrets was found in western Wyoming in the 1980s. The ferret reintroduction in Conata Basin began in the mid-1990s.
The ferret population in the basin had climbed to nearly 300 by the end of last year, the largest in the world.
Wildlife experts have called Conata Basin the most successful ferret reintroduction site in the world, largely because plague had seemed to stay out of South Dakota, even though it had hit nearby areas just across the line in Wyoming.
Then, a prairie dog killed by plague was found in western Custer County in 2004. The next year, plague wiped out large numbers of prairie dogs in a huge complex north of Oglala, about 40 miles from Conata Basin.
Since then, it has apparently migrated north to the southern reaches of Conata Basin, south of S.D. Highway 44, although some prairie dogs killed by plague have been found north of Highway 44, according to Randy Griebel, a Forest Service wildlife biologist with the Wall District of the Buffalo Gap National Grassland. Conata Basin lies within the national grassland and is administered by the Forest Service.
Although trapping and relocating the ferrets is still an option, it isn't a good option this time of year, Griebel and Larson say, because females are either pregnant or have given birth to litters. Also, ferrets are not very active above ground in the spring, Griebel said.
"They can be hard to get," Larson said. "Because we've got active plague, we would need to quarantine them somewhere. There would be a lot of issues, but they are not necessarily insurmountable."
The most likely first response will be to dust prairie dog burrows with a pesticide that kills fleas, Larson said. Details will be worked out at the agency's meeting, set for Thursday in Wall.
After the appearance of plague north of Oglala three years ago, crews dusted 7,000 acres of ferret reintroduction areas in Conata Basin that year. But due to lack of resources, the efforts dropped off to 1,600 acres both in 2006 and 2007, Larson said.
"Ideally, you do it so you beat back the plague season, which has already started," he said. "In the past, we've been able to get it out in the summer and fall. But it sure wouldn't hurt to get it out in the spring," he said.
The discovery of plague in Conata Basin comes after a decade of growth in the ferret population there. Last fall's count found 288 ferrets, and there were more that weren't found, Griebel said. "Last fall, the population was as high as it's ever been. Things seemed to be cranking right along," he said.
The ferrets were also expanding their range, Griebel said, following prairie dog expansion, with some found in the Roberts Prairie Dog Town on the north side of Badlands National Park and a couple more found north of the park, he said.
OPTIONAL TRIM
The plague, including bubonic and pneumonic plague, can also be spread to humans through flea bites or direct contact with infected animals. But that is unusual, and the disease can be effectively treated with antibiotics.
But federal wildlife and health officials are notifying health-care providers in western South Dakota to watch their patients for signs of the disease. Officials are also advising people to keep dogs and cats out of the area and to use chemical repellants to prevent against flea bites that could infect them with plague, a bacterial infection that can present itself as bubonic or pneumonic plague in humans.
But it is unusual for humans to get the disease and rare for them to die from it, Forest Service experts say.
Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com
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