Bulletins

WHAT

As part of recovery and management actions for the Black-tailed prairie dog population, Grasslands National Park is distributing sylvatic plague vaccine baits.

WHERE

The following prairie dog colonies:

- Monument Aand B

- Broken Hills

- Police Coulee

- Timbergulch

- Sage

WHY

These baits contain a live vaccine against plague and were reviewed and approved for experimental field use. The vaccine is placed in bait (pictured below), which is then scattered throughout the test areas for consumption by prairie dogs.

In order to minimize interference with these active management operations and avoid exposure to the vaccine, we recommend visitors to avoid the above mentioned prairie dog colonies. A reminder that all Prairie Dog colonies at Grasslands National Park are closed to pets.

This vaccine program is expected to help the prairie dog population develop immunity to plague, thus reducing the risk of colony die-offs, in the unlikely event outbreaks of disease occur.

WHEN

From August 10 to October 31, 2022.