Assembling a safe and effective toolbox for integrated flea control and plague mitigation: Fipronil experiments with prairie dogs

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 17; no. 8; p. e0272419
• Main Authors: Eads, David, Livieri, Travis, Tretten, Tyler, Hughes, John, Kaczor, Nick, Halsell, Emily, Grassel, Shaun, Dobesh, Phillip, Childers, Eddie, Lucas, David, Noble, Lauren, Vasquez, Michele, Grady, Anna Catherine, Biggins, Dean
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 08.08.2022; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Baits; Biology and Life Sciences; Colonies; Conservation; Cynomys; Deltamethrin; Dust; Evaluation; Experiments; Feces; Field tests; Fipronil; Fleas; Insecticide resistance; Insecticides; Laboratories; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mitigation; People and places; Pesticides; Plague; Prairie dogs; Predators; Prevention; Safety measures; Survival; Toxicity; Vectors; Wildlife conservation; Wildlife habitats; Zoonoses; United States; United States > US; North America; Colorado
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272419

Plague, a widely distributed zoonotic disease of mammalian hosts and flea vectors, poses a significant risk to ecosystems throughout much of Earth. Conservation biologists use insecticides for flea control and plague mitigation. Here, we evaluate the use of an insecticide grain bait, laced with 0.005% fipronil (FIP) by weight, with black-tailed prairie dogs (BTPDs, Cynomys ludovicianus). We consider safety measures, flea control, BTPD body condition, BTPD survival, efficacy of plague mitigation, and the speed of FIP grain application vs. infusing BTPD burrows with insecticide dusts. We also explore conservation implications for endangered black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes), which are specialized predators of Cynomys. Deltamethrin dust is the most commonly used insecticide for plague mitigation on Cynomys colonies. Fleas on BTPD colonies exhibit the ability to evolve resistance to deltamethrin after repeated annual treatments. Thus, more tools are needed. Accumulating data show orally-delivered FIP is safe and usually effective for flea control with BTPDs, though potential acute toxic effects cannot be ruled out. With continued study and refinement, FIP might be used in rotation with, or even replace deltamethrin, and serve an important role in Cynomys and black-footed ferret conservation. More broadly, our stepwise approach to research on FIP may function as a template or guide for evaluations of insecticides in the context of wildlife conservation.