In the Channel 7 news clip, channel 7 news inadvertently tries to blame the plague on prairie dogs. There is no evidence that this is the case, and if it were, the prairie dogs involved would be dead as the colonies “plague out” and die within 3 days to a week if they have plague carrying fleas. There is absolutely no evidence that any of the prairie dogs in Larimar County were infected with plague carrying fleas or that the teen in this story contracted the plague from prairie dogs. Any “rodent” can have the fleas and dogs and cats actually carry the plague.

Keep the following prairie dog facts in mind:

“Prairie dogs are too busy dying from the plague to act as carriers and spread the disease. Prairie dogs lack immunity to plague, and mortality rates from outbreaks can exceed 99% of prairie dog populations. Prairie dogs typically die within a few days after contact with the plague bacterium. Other mammals, such as cats and dogs, do carry the plague. Plague in humans is easily treatable with standard antibiotics. While humans should take the health threat posed by plague seriously, the chances of catching it from a prairie dog are much less than the danger of being struck by lightning. In fact, some of the cases of direct transmission of plague from prairie dogs to humans involved people killing and skinning the animals.”

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