Ground Squirrel and Prairie Dog Solutions

Remember hearing about the Bubonic Plague in history class? Well, those destructive ground squirrels that create hazardous holes and cause millions of dollars in damage per year, have also been known to carry and spread the bubonic plague. Wild rodents, such as mice and ground squirrels transmit plague, through the bite of infected fleas. Be aware when you pick up even a dead ground squirrel. If an infected flea bites you, you could end up with enlarged lymph glands near the bite area and quickly get a fever or chills. Get treatment right away, or it could possibly infect your blood and lungs. In July 2010, the Los Angeles Times reported that a ground squirrel captured in the Los Alamos Campground in the Angeles National Forest, tested positive for plague. The campground was closed for 10 days by Los Angeles County Public Health and U.S. Forest Service officials and squirrel burrows in the area were dusted for fleas. According to the Vertebrate Pest Control Handbook – Mammals

It used to be that when you drove through the gates of our ranch, it looked like we were raising ground squirrels. In fact, one day when my boys were preschool age, my oldest yelled, "Mom! Look at all of those ground squirrels! We need help! We need to call the Power Rangers!” Unfortunately the Power Rangers were not available, so we were forced to try other methods to rid the ranch of the ground squirrels. Next time, I’ll share some of the unique ways we tried to reclaim our ranch from those destructive little critters. No matter what we tried, we were still left with the holes. As you can see from the photo, we not only had to worry about our horses getting injured from stepping into a ground squirrel hole, some holes were so big, we could have lost one of my kids. We used to play a game, who could find the biggest hole. My boys even had the goats join in the fun. My dad and brother, who were continuing to battle the ground squirrels, didn’t find our game as amusing