At Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico, US, infusing Gunnison's prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) burrows with an insecticide dust containing 0.05% deltamethrin killed fleas which transmit bubonic plague. The reduction in the number of fleas per prairie dog was significant and dramatic immediately after infusions, with a suggestion that the reduction persisted for as long as 12 mo. Despite the lower flea counts, however, a plague epizootic killed >95% of prairie dogs after 3 yr of infusions (once per year). More research is necessary for a better understanding of the efficacy of insecticide dusts at lowering flea counts and protecting prairie dogs from plague.
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1 April 2018
Plague in a Colony of Gunnison's Prairie Dogs (Cynomys gunnisoni) Despite Three Years of Infusions of Burrows with 0.05% Deltamethrin to Kill Fleas
John L. Hoogland,
Dean E. Biggins,
Nathaniel Blackford,
David A. Eads,
Dustin Long,
Mariana Rivera Rodriguez,
Lauren M. Ross,
Sarah Tobey,
Emma M. White
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Journal of Wildlife Diseases
Vol. 54 • No. 2
April 2018
Vol. 54 • No. 2
April 2018
