FiAGUE WARNING I '. . ,7 pKAlRlf OOOS ro'in I , ' ifc ' '.' WJrc.lrc CHIPMUNKS nd . , . " CROUNO SQUIRRELS e ofccud i t 1 i ,: i wuiLACue. it K j fith ' " . f , 1 I journals ffad BUBONIC PLAGUE i i ' - 'M J ! toKn Aoe" I "; f f i ;',;-' ,. i ''I v "' 'v . STAY OUT Of MEADOWS , . ( J; f I DO NOT TEED OR APPROACH ."V-'1 ' j L - . - I ANY PARK WILDLIFE -.iS jt," t . l f . A i ' -.,. m(:m tfr 1 . ' I F -it-;, , ''f "i m r. . , i - W- W i i B i Sign at meadow in Bryce Canyon National Park warns visitors to stay out of meadows and not to feed animals. Recent discovery of plague in park's popular prairie dogs has prompted serious precautions. Prairie Dogs Infected By Bubonic Plague At Bryce Canyon NP BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL NATION-AL PARK Bubonic plague has been confirmed in flea-infested prairie dogs at Bryce Canyon National Park, park officials confirmed con-firmed Friday. The Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Disease at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention at Fort Collins, Colo, notified the park May 22 that fleas collected from prairie dogs at the park and submitted for analysis are indeed infected with bubonic plague. The park has posted warning signs and detailed information throughout the park where Memorial Memor-ial Day holiday weekend visitation reaches many thousands. Signs warning visitors that prairie dogs and other rodents in the park including inclu-ding chipmunks and ground squirrels squir-rels are infected with bubonic plague have been posted prominently promi-nently throughout the park. Nevertheless, Never-theless, officials reassure visitors that there is no need to fear visiting the park as long as rules are obeyed. Signs in several languages are currently being printed. The problem was suspected a few weeks ago when a prairie dog researcher, returning for his annual (See Prairie Dogs Infected With Bubonic Plague On Page 2A) Prairie Dogs From Page 1 study on the charming little rodents, listed as threatened and protected by the Endangered Species Act, discovered that the population had decreased dramatically. Visitors intrigued by the prairie dogs can rarely get as close to the wary creatures as they can to the more gregarious chipmunks. Feeding Fee-ding the chipmunks and the squirrels squir-rels has been a temptation for visitors that park officials have struggled with for years. Visitors are prone to feed the animals in the park despite signs posted against it. The same little creatures occasionally occasion-ally bite a visitor, but Richard Bryant, chief resource management specialist at BCNP, said the disease is spread not tby the bite of the animal an-imal but by the bite of the fleas from the animal. Those same fleas, to survive, must have a warm host and if their host dies, must immediately immedi-ately find another. While they prefer pre-fer rodents, which are warmer than humans, humans nevertheless make a good, and convenient, second choice, Bryant said. Visitors are warned to stay out of the meadows at the park and cautioned not to feed or approach any wildlife. Eleven sites on loop A of the 104 campsites at Sunset Campground have been closed because be-cause of their proximity to one of the 12 prairie dog colonies in the park. "Chances are," said Bryant, "since plague is present in Bryce Canyon National Park, we ought to conclude that it is present on all of the Paunsaugunt Plateau" an area of several hundred square miles. Bryant said bubonic plague is common to the west and two years ago was found at Theodore (See Prairie Dogs Infected With Bubonic Plague On Page 3A) Prairie Dogs Infected With Plague From page 2A Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and at Flourissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado and is particularly common com-mon to prairie dogs. About two weeks ago park officials offi-cials began to consider that plague could be present. When John Hoogland returned in early May to conduct his fourth summer of research re-search on a colony of prairie dogs at East Creek Meadow, he expected to see at least 100 adult male ani- . mals. The most he could count were nine. Hoogland was very familiar fa-miliar with the colony and had marked the animals with patterns of dye to follow their habits. Hoogland had spent 16 years studying the black-tailed prairie dog at Black Hills National Park, South Dakota where prairie dog colonies will have several hundred animals, and at Petrified Forest National Park, Ariz. Utah prairie dogs traditionally tradi-tionally have much smaller colonies. His research has been conducted under the auspices of the Appalachian Environmental Laboratory at the University of Maryland, Frostburg, Md. Even before he completed his black-tail research, he became interested in Utah's white-tail prairie dog and made visits to Bryce Canyon as long ago as 1988. He baits his live traps with alfalfa pellets and this was the method used to obtain fleas to send to Fort Collins for analysis. Bryant said Uiat there had also been a very small colony of about 20 prairie dogs near the park visitor center which had entirely disappeared disap-peared last year, but Uieir conclusion conclu-sion had been Uiat the prairie dogs had simply moved to a new location. loca-tion. Now, they wondered, if plague hadn't gotten them. "After all, plague has been documented in all species of prairie dogs, and the bacteria is always out there," said Bryant Plague often seems to run in a seven or eight-year cycle, Bryant said, with a three-year impact, very small the first summer, large the second, and dying off the third. The park conducts an annual count of prairie dogs in May. Last year's count numbered 166. The count is made on a sunny day between be-tween 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. when there is a slight breeze. Enumerators watch through binoculars, binocu-lars, and Bryant says it is a tedious job. Experts have learned that about 50 percent of a colony may be out of the burrows at a given time. They believe that one adult remains in the burrow at all times with the young, and the young do not leave the burrow until June. This year they began the count and only came up with slightly over 90 -when they stopped, realizing that a problem apparently existed. Weather, since then, said Bryant, Restraints under the Endangered Species Act govern what may be done be done in such situations, but Bryant says that public health and protection of visitors and park employees em-ployees is foremost, has not been conducive to resuming a count, since the park has had many stormy days. The park has alerted other federal fed-eral and state agencies in the area and each is beginning to take its own precautions. They have also (See Prairie Dogs infected With bubonic Plague On Page 4A) Prairie Dogs From Page 3A contacted Mike Bodenchuck at Animal Ani-mal Damage Control in Richfield who has come to the area to trap coyotes to see if they are spreading the disease. Bryant explained that coyotes will catch the prairie dogs and carry them from their colony into another area and consume them. They can spread the disease in this manner, although the coyote itself is not susceptible, its blood will reveal what experts are looking for. With storms almost every day, park officials are waiting for the meadows to dry out sufficiently to begin combating the infestation. Plans are, Bryant said, to dust the burrows with a pesticide containing permethrin, a chemical that effectively effec-tively kills the fleas. They will force the dust into the burrows at high pressure. As the animals go in and out, they become coated with the dust. Bryant and his assistant, Henry Bastian, are both licensed to apply pesticides. Employees at the park who work in the field protect themselves by tucking their pants legs into their socks and sealing them with duct tape, wearing gloves and sealing them to their sleeves. In the meantime, Bryant said, there have been no signs of illness or plague symptoms reported in humans. Symptoms of bubonic plague usually occur two to six days after being bitten by an infected in-fected flea. They include high fever and headache. Other symptoms symp-toms may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and painful and swollen glands in the groin, armpits and neck. Visitors are being advised to seek immediate medical attention if they become ill one week after their visit to the area. While plague can . be fatal unless diagnosed and treated in time, it is a treatable illness ill-ness with prompt diagnosis and treatment with antibiotics. Park visitors are being urged to keep their pets in their vehicles and out of the prairie dog colonies. Dogs and cats allowed outdoors should be dusted with an insectici-dal insectici-dal flea powder containing permethrin. perme-thrin. Domestic cats are particularly particu-larly susceptible to plague, and caution cau-tion is advised when handling sick cats that have visited the area. Bryant said the greatest potential exposure to humans comes from feeding the animals and that care should be taken not to place tents near rodent holes.