Sylvatic Plague Mitigation

Black-footed ferrets are North America’s most endangered mammal, yet progress towards species recovery has slowed over the last decade. Among the most significant barriers to black-footed ferret recovery is sylvatic plague, which affects not only ferrets but their primary prey source - prairie dogs. As such preventing and managing sylvatic plague outbreaks is one of the most important steps to ensuring healthy and robust black-footed ferret populations.

To address this need, M&N Wildlife, LLC contracted with the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe to mitigate a sylvatic plague outbreak in 2024. We assembled a skilled team to apply deltamethrin to prairie dog colonies, prioritizing those that had been observed to support black-footed ferret recruitment. Over the course of the contract, we overcame challenges including equipment failures and inclement weather to treat over 400 acres of prairie dog colonies, protecting both prairie dogs and the black-footed ferrets that rely on them.

To learn more about black-footed ferrets and the ongoing interagency efforts to recover them from the brink of extinction, visit https://www.blackfootedferret.org/.