Posted Nov. 15, 2017
A new oral vaccine bait can help protect prairie dogs against sylvatic plague and possibly assist in the recovery of black-footed ferrets, one of the most endangered mammals in North America.
Sylvatic plague, a bacterial disease caused by Yersinia pestis, affects numerous wild and domestic animal species as well as humans. Developed specifically for prairie dogs by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the peanut butter–flavored vaccine elicits a protective immune response that can help vaccinated prairie dogs fight off infection after later exposure to the disease. Read more: Vaccine
