Officials monitoring prairie dog plague situation

MULESHOE — An outbreak of the plague among prairie dogs at the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge is a far cry from the Black Death of 14th-century Europe. But officials are still closely monitoring the situation.

Two out of four prairie dog “towns” in the refuge 20 miles south of Muleshoe were almost eliminated by what officials confirmed this week to be the plague, likely spread weeks ago by a flea on a coyote, according to project leader Jude Smith.

Areas in the vicinity of those colonies, including Paul’s Lake and its access roads, are “closed temporarily due to biological monitoring,” the refuge website reported.

“The fleas really like the prairie dogs. Their next favorite things are rabbits or coyotes,” Smith said. “You kind of get used to it after the first time. The last time the plague moved through here was about 10 years ago (in 2008) and within a year the prairie dogs were back.”

With access to the infected colonies closed off, the outbreak will likely end in a few weeks once the prairie dogs there die and the species-specific ticks run out of new hosts.

“They’ll die out and this will go away. Eventually all of the fleas will die,” Smith said. “This type of flea can’t live on cows or deer ... burrowing owls and badgers don’t seem to be affected by it.”

Smith recommends a liberal use of insect spray for humans and good flea and tick medicine for dogs anywhere near the area, since neither are exempt from the bug.

Fortunately, modern medicine and some basic awareness should thwart any serious epidemics. Dog owners can look out for fever, lethargy and refusal to eat as possible warning signs.

For humans, plague symptoms are most likely to start with lymph node swelling on the neck and under the armpit, Smith said. Beyond that, other symptoms can be pneumonic coughing and black discoloration in the arms, from effects on the blood.

The treatment is an antibiotic, Smith said, but anyone experiencing symptoms should not hesitate to seek medical treatment.

“The medical profession (is) not used to dealing with the plague, and it’s getting their attention,” he said. “The trick is making sure that the medical profession realizes it’s out there, and I think (New Mexico and Texas) have done a pretty good job of letting people know that it’s going around.”

Refuge officials plan to gather more data on the estimated number of prairie dogs infected, and a state veterinarian will continue to test fleas from the site until the outbreak is over.