dandelion<p>Every few years headlines about a plague-infected squirrel or similar make the rounds and are met with some panic. But plague had never truly left us. It survives in wild rodent populations, but human cases are very rare (usually less than a dozen a year in the US). They mostly occur in the American Southwest but east of the Rockies, Prairie Dogs are a major reservoir. </p><p>The old advice still holds up: Keep your distance from wildlife - even if they are as cute and unafraid as prairie dogs, squirrels, and chipmunks.</p><p><a href="https://www.nps.gov/badl/learn/news/plague-confirmed-in-badlands-conata-ecosystem.htm" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">nps.gov/badl/learn/news/plague</span><span class="invisible">-confirmed-in-badlands-conata-ecosystem.htm</span></a></p><p><a href="https://dresden.network/tags/Plague" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Plague</span></a> <a href="https://dresden.network/tags/PrairieDogs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PrairieDogs</span></a> <a href="https://dresden.network/tags/BadlandsNationalPark" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BadlandsNationalPark</span></a></p>