“Sylvatic plague is a significant impediment to ferret recovery because of its lethality to ferrets, and because it can eliminate prairie dogs on which ferrets are dependent for both habitat, and as prey”, the FWS wrote in an environmental assessment earlier this year.
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The black footed ferret, which has been on the endangered species list for decades, could be facing extinction, with only several hundred individuals still living in the wild.
While the black-footed ferret is not the target recipient of the vaccine, they stand to gain the most with more prairie dogs being vaccinated.
The drones that may be used in this effort would ideally be created to shoot the sweets in three directions at the same time, according to an environmental assessment of the drone program put out by the Fish and Wildlife Service. They’re going to shoot vaccine-smothered M&Ms over 1,200 acres in Montana from drones, according to The Guardian. By using drones to distribute candy covered in vaccines in the black-footed ferrets’ habitat, the federal agency hopes to stop the spread of a disease that has ravaged prairie dog populations and poses risks to other species.
According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, delivering the vaccine by drone “is anticipated to eventually be the most efficient, effective, cost-conscious and environmentally friendly method of application”.
“If the equipment can be developed to deposit 3 SPV [sylvatic plague vaccination] doses simultaneously every second, as we envision is possible, some 200 acres per hour could be treated by a single operator”, the Fish and Wildlife Service said. Biologist Randy Machett told theguardian.com the device is a “glorified gumball machine”. “We dropped the vaccine out of a bag while walking around, but that’s very hard to do over thousands of acres”. “Spraying burrows with insecticide to kill the fleas is also labor intensive and not a long-term solution”. The drone will be able to fire the medicine in three different directions at once. Black-footed ferrets depend on prairie dogs for food and shelter. In 1981, ferrets were thought to be extinct.
The plan still has to survive a public comment period; farmers who consider both animals a pest are not fans of the drone plan, according to Wired.
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After the trials in Montana, colonies in Arizona and Colorado will also be treated to showers of the laced candy. The service will coat M&Ms in peanut butter that has a plague vaccine, and the drone can scatter it cheaply across thousands of acres of government land.
