Officials: Fleas in Two Arizona Counties Tested Positive for the Plague

Breitbart ^ | 13 Aug 2017 | Katherine Rodriguez

[Salamander]

Not Alice.

I just went out jacklighting the area for someone’s lost dog and got pulled over by a County Mountie for possible poaching.

:D

[Pelham]

Dunno why this is news. Every year in SoCal we hear how the ground squirrels carry plague.

But I’ve never once seen anything in the news about pets or people contracting it from them.

[Tax-chick]

Maybe the dog will come back when it’s hungry.

[shibumi]

"You know, there's a lot of misunderstanding about rats.
The rodendus vermikitis as they're called in Latin.
It turns out our long tailed friend wasn't after all responsible
for the dreaded bubonic plague as alleged through history.
Yes, sir. It was caused by an animal called the bubon.
That's right, and the threat by the way is still with us.
So if anyone does see a bubon, contact your local authorities."

Perhaps there is a bubon infestation in the Southwest?
Bubons dressed up and masquerading as squirrels?

[bert]

Bubonis fleanis var cattus

[Tax-chick]

LOL!

It is believed that Yersinia pestis orginated in a marmot-sorta-thing, the tarabagan, native to the Taklamakan Desert of western China. They are a lot like prairie dogs, which can also carry plague-bearing fleas.