Weeks ago, a 500-acre prairie dog town on the reservation was alive with thousands of barking, scurrying rodents. Now, there is hardly any sound or movement. Environmental officials suspect the area is on the verge of a plague epidemic similar to the one that annihilated prairie dogs on nearly 21,000 acres in Phillips County in the mid-1990s. The ferrets, which are being reintroduced in Montana, feed on prairie dogs and live in their burrows. The plovers prefer to nest in the sparse vegetation provided by prairie dog towns.
Bubonic plague is transmitted by fleas.
Once infected, prairie dogs contract a form of plague and die within days, usually deep within their burrows. Other animals known to carry the disease are deer mice, rats, badgers, coyotes, bobcats and antelope. Health officials say plague outbreaks among prairie dogs in northcentral Montana is nothing new, but people are advised to keep themselves and their pets flea-free and away from plagued areas. So far, the prairie dog towns infected in and near Phillips County are in very remote areas, miles from the nearest cities or tourist attractions. Montana has had two human plague cases in the past decade, said Todd Damrow, state epidemiologist.