The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to hear from the public about a proposed plan to vaccinate prairie dogs in northeastern Montana by using drones.
The vaccination aims to combat the sylvatic plague, which “can kill virtually all the prairie dogs on entire colonies” and harms the black-footed ferrets that prey on them, according to Outbreak News Today.
One proposed FWS plan involves hiring private drone operators to distribute “vaccine-laden, peanut-butter flavored baits” across prairie dog habitats to inoculate the rodents against the plague.
The ferrets are an endangered species and are rely on prairie dogs as a food source and for habitat.
Distributing the vaccine, however, is difficult because the terrain workers need to cover is so vast. If the FWS hires drone operators, however, the work could be done more easily. “For SPV to be a viable plague mitigation tool at meaningful management scales for ferret recovery, delivery via UAS is potentially the most efficient, effective, cost-conscious and environmentally friendly method of application,” the proposal noted.
Alternatives would be to have workers use all-terrain vehicles to drop the bait, or take no action and hope the ferret populations recover. Using drones “will be 10 to 30 times faster than delivery on foot and has the potential to be a significant cost savings.”
It wouldn’t be the first time that drones have been used for conservation. The FWS has conducted webinars to educate the public on how drones can be used for conservation science, and Kenya has experimented with drones to combat poaching.
If the prairie dog drone proposal gets approved and is successful, it could be an important step in making conservation efforts cheaper, more effective, and more interesting for the casual observer.
