Prairie Dog Under Anesthesia

Over 30 organizations and agencies are testing a USGS-developed oral vaccine to prevent the spread of plague in prairie dogs. If successful, the sylvatic plague vaccine could help protect endangered black-footed ferrets in the western U.S. because the ferrets rely on prairie dogs for food. Once captured, a veterinarian tags each trapped prairie dog and takes hair, whisker, and blood samples before scientists release the animals back into the wild.