For a couple of hours last week, about three dozen people stood under ominous storm clouds, wandering across a windswept meadow near Meeteetse, Wyo., hoping to catch a glimpse of prairie dogs eating peanut butter.
It wasn’t just peanut butter the wild rodents were ingesting. In fact, the tasty treat was merely the irresistible flavor used in a bait laced with an oral vaccine being tested as a way to control plague among limited populations of wild animals.
And since the gathering of reporters, wildlife officials and researchers was at the Pitchfork Ranch, there was also plenty of discussion about the endangered black-footed ferret. It was
at the Pitchfork that a colony of about 120 black-footed ferrets—the last in the world—was discovered in 1981, long after the animal was thought extinct. Despite a concerted management effort aimed at saving the species,
sylvatic plague
and canine distemper swept through the Pitchfork ferrets. By 1986,
there were less than 20 black-footed ferrets left alive, with only seven
of those capable of breeding. Plague infects prairie dogs, and can wipe out more than 90 percent of
a colony. Black-footed ferrets feed almost exclusively on prairie dogs,
and are highly susceptible to plague themselves...
more
So we have a Toad Road, a Bee Highway, and now Prairie Dog Peanut Butter. I can't wait to see what's next.
Note in the image above the ferret is catching the prairie dog just as he exits his hole. The prairie dog thought he was hidden in the hole...but the ferret smelled the peanut butter.
I'll bet it was Peter Pan Prairie Dog Peanut Butter. But was it the creamy, or the, oh my...crunchy?
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