In response to a case of plague in prairie dogs in Saskatchewan’s Grasslands National Park, park officials are dusting prairie dog burrows with insecticide to try to control fleas. A single case of plague, a serious bacterial infection caused by Yersinia pestis, was identified in a prairie dog in the park earlier
prairie dogs
Plague in Saskatchewan
By Scott Weese on
Posted in Other animals
Plague has been identified in a dead prairie dog in Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan, Canada. This disease, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, circulates in small wild mammals in some regions, and is spread by fleas. While plague is endemic in some parts of North America, it’s very rare in Canada. (The last …