Rapid City Journal from Rapid City, South Dakota • A7

Rapid City JouRnal Sunday, March 19, 2017 A7 00 1 LOCAL REGION ASSOCIATED PRESS CHEYENNE, Wyo. Feeding peanut butter kib- bles to millions of prairie dogs by flinging the treats from four-wheelers and dropping them from drones could be the next big thing to help a spunky little weasel that almost went extinct. Slinky with a robber-like black mask across its eyes, the endangered black- footed ferret is a fierce predator. The up to 2-foot- long weasel feeds almost exclusively on prairie dogs, rodents that live in vast col- onies regularly decimated by plague outbreaks. The disease keeps threat- ening the food supply of ferrets bred in captivity and reintroduced on the land- scape.

Biologists are in- creasingly optimistic that feeding plague vaccine to prairie dogs can improve the success rate. Starting this fall, they hope to ramp up recent plague vaccination experi- ments to cover as much as 40 square miles of prairie dog colonies in several states in the West. not attempting to eradicate it. That would be very, very difficult at this point. just trying to manage it on selected colo- said Tonie Rocke, who researches animal diseases with the U.S.

Geological National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. They plan to treat prai- rie dog colonies with blue- berry-sized vaccine pellets made with peanut butter, using a specially made rified gumball to fling the pellets from all-terrain vehicles. They might also drop pellets from drones to avoid trampling the countryside. dogs love it. They gobble it up as fast as they said John Emmerich, a retired Wyoming Game and Fish Department deputy director who chairs Black- Footed Ferret Friends, a group working with the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service on the project. At a rate of 40 to 50 pellets per acre, Emmerich figures they will need 1 million or more pellets for the job. A U.S. Department of Ag- riculture supply depot in Pocatello, Idaho, that also makes rodent poison for farmers will manufacture the pellets. Plague, which killed mil- lions of people in medieval Europe, a problem for prairie dogs until it ar- rived in the U.S.

over a cen- tury ago. The disease now routinely cycles through prairie dog colonies across the 12-state histor- ical range. Habitat loss to farming and poisoning by ranch- ers also has taken a toll on prairie dogs and by ex- tension the black-footed ferret, which lives in the ro- burrows. The ferrets were believed extinct until a ranch dog brought home a dead one near Meeteetse, in 1981. Beginning in the 1990s, efforts to breed black- footed ferrets at a facility near Fort Collins, and release them into the wild have been successful in the sense that the black-footed ferret is no longer teetering on the brink.

Black-footed ferrets re- cently have been introduced at the Rocky Mountain Ar- senal National Wildlife Refuge near Denver and to the Meeteetse ranch where scientists collected the last known wild ferrets to start the captive-breeding pro- gram. Descendants of those ferrets have been reintro- duced at 28 sites and eight states, Canada and Mexico. But plague, which is spread by fleas, remains a threat to the prairie dog col- onies where ferrets live, said Fish and Wildlife spokes- man Ryan Moehring. Biologists often treat the colonies with insecticide to combat fleas. Plague vac- cine likewise would need to be applied regularly once a year, because prairie dogs typically live more than a few years, and new ones are born every year.

But the vaccine could require a lot less work, especially if drones are used. An estimated 300 black- footed ferrets now live in the wild. Getting them off the endangered list would re- quire establishing 3,000 or more breeding adults on half a million acres 780 square miles of prairie-dog col- onies, according to Fish and Wildlife. To aid ferrets, prairie dogs get vaccine treats ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE animal keeper Vicki Snoberger carries containers with three black-footed ferrets Sept. 28, 2011, at the national conservation center in Front royal, after she and her team rounded-up 26 ferrets for shipment to Fort collins colo.

Feeding vaccine nuggets to prairie dogs could help bring back the endangered black-footed ferret. 1935: Born near Martin, S.d. 1936: Moves with his family near Wasta, S.d. 1951: Enrolls at chadron (neb.) Prep as a high school senior and helps the basket- ball team to a 27-0 record and state championship, while being described as a smooth oper- ating 1952: Graduates from chad- ron Prep School and enrolls at chadron State college, where he stars on the bas- ketball team for the next four years. only a reporter writes at the end of collegiate career, tle had perfected a leaping drive-in shot which made him leading scorer for two 1955: Marries norma Jean Bassford.

1956: Graduates from chad- ron State college. 1956-1958: Teaches high school science and coaches basketball at hot Springs. his team suffers back-to-back losing seasons but is lauded by one sportswriter for hav- ing and 1958: Enrolls in the uni- versity of nebraska dental school but is soon inducted into the army and stationed at Brooke army Medical cen- ter on Fort Sam houston in San antonio, Texas. 1962: returns to the uni- versity of nebraska dental school, where he stars on the intramural basket- ball team. 1964: Graduates from the university of nebraska col- lege of dentistry and begins practicing dentistry in rapid city.

1966: Serves as youth leadership chairman for the South dakota district of Toastmasters International. 1967: Is one of two South dakota men to speak at the Toastmaster International convention in Toronto, can- ada. also serves on the plan- ning committee of the South dakota dental association. 1967-1970: While playing an active role in the South dakota dental association, attracts media attention for his work to recruit more dentists to South dakota, to increase opportunities for South dakotans to attend dental school, and to fluori- date drinking water. 1972: Endures the cata- strophic June 9-10 rapid city flood while serving as president of the rapid city council.

also serves as president of the state chap- ter of the american Society for Preventive dentistry. 1973: While serving as city council president, engages in tense public talks with mem- bers of the american Indian Movement who are protest- ing racism in rapid city. 1974: receives a special ser- vice award from the univer- sity of nebraska college of dentistry alumni association for his outstanding service to rapid city during the 1972 flood. 1979: Earns what he de- scribes as a doctorate in nutrition from donsbach uni- versity in california, which is not an accredited institution. 1980: a rapid city Journal feature on new, ho- listic approach to dentistry, including nutritional and lifestyle coaching with blood and hair analysis, includes criticisms from local physi- cians who say it amounts to practicing medicine without appropriate training and qualifications.

1982: news reports say Lytle is being investigated by the South dakota division of con- sumer affairs on accusations he misled patients about his educational background and the quality and characteristics of his nutrition-oriented ser- vices. Lytle sues to stop the investigation, and it works. a judge decides that investi- gators cannot force Lytle to divulge the details of private patient consultations, thereby neutering the investigation. 1984: Is inducted into the chadron State college ath- letic hall of Fame. also co- chairs a committee that helps attract and host the national high School rodeo Finals in rapid city.

Tupper Journal staff JOURNAL FILE Former Mayor don Barnett, right, gives Eleanor and u.S. Sen. George McGovern, a tour of flood-damaged rapid city in 1972. Barnett remembers Larry Lytle as pillar of the during the flood and its aftermath. Larry Lytle A timeline: 1935-1984 This is Part 1 of a three-part timeline of significant events in the life of rapid city resident Larry Lytle.

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