For the past 15 years, Tonie Rocke and her colleagues at the University of Wisconsin have been working to develop a plague vaccine for prairie dogs, which could also benefit ferrets and other wildlife. Field testing is ongoing at 29 prairie dog sites across the country, including the Pitchfork Ranch, which Rocke visited for the first time last week.
“Plague is by far the biggest threat to black-footed ferrets,” said Rocke, who works in Madison, Wis. at the U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center.
Ferrets can be infected with plague by eating diseased prairie dogs, or by being bitten by fleas carried by prairie dogs.