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Flea control with FipBits to prevent plague from killing black-footed ferrets and their prairie dog prey
Randy Matchett, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
January 15th, 2023
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Project Collaborators:
Project Collaborators:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
U.S. Geological Service
Arizona Game and Fish Department
Prairie Wildlife Research
BASF
Colorado State University
World Wildlife Fund
Model Avionics
Buffalo Gap National Grasslands
Badlands National Park
Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
American Prairie
Turner Endangered Species Fund
Background
The primary biological challenge to recovery of endangered black-footed ferrets (BFFs) is sylvatic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, and vectored primarily by fleas. This is the same bacteria that killed some 25 million people during the Black Death in Europe from 1347-1351. Plague was introduced to North America around 1900 and is highly lethal to both BFFs and the prairie dogs (PDs) on which BFFs are obligate dependents for habitat and prey. Plague has eliminated thousands of PD colony acres in a short time at many black-footed ferret reintroduction areas, and including the site where the last wild population of BFFs was discovered in 1981 near Meeteetse Wyoming. Various insecticide dust products have been used successfully for decades in efforts to control fleas and prevent plague. Those treatments are expensive, costing around $30/acre, as the dust needs to be squirted down every single PD burrow on a colony. In addition, fleas can develop resistance to insecticides, so alternative active ingredients are desperately needed.

​Fipronil is the active ingredient in Frontline spray that has been used topically on dogs and cats to control fleas and ticks for more than 25 years. Researchers began evaluating grain treated with fipronil (0.005% by weight) placed at prairie dog burrows for flea control on PDs in 2016. PDs eat the grain and the fipronil and metabolites are mostly stored in fat and slowly released into the PD’s blood stream. Adult fleas are then killed when taking a blood meal from the PD. Fipronil residues are excreted over time in PD feces and are often deposited in their underground burrow systems and nest chambers where flea eggs hatch into larvae. Flea larvae often feed on organic matter, including PD feces, and researchers have learned flea larvae are also killed when they consume feces from PDs that have eaten fipronil-treated bait. It is thought such fipronil residues in PD feces can persist for a long time underground and that may help explain the high degree of flea control observed for 1-2 years after a single treatment. Fipronil grain treatments are also expensive, costing around $30/acre, as the label calls for placing 1/2 cup of treated grain at every PD burrow.​
A more affordable and practical means of controlling fleas is desperately needed in order to control fleas/plague on tens of thousands of acres of prairie dog colonies. Researchers evaluating an experimental plague vaccine for PDs learned that distributing small peanut butter flavored baits on transects at a rate of 50 baits/acre resulted in the vast majority of PDs on a colony finding and eating a bait. They also worked out a method and equipment to efficiently mass produce hundreds of thousands of round bait pellets using a machine from Lithuania that was originally designed to make carp fishing baits (BoilieRoller). In addition, World Wildlife Fund and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife (FWS) worked with an inventor to make a machine capable of automatically dropping one of those bait pellets straight down, shooting one 30 feet to the left, and shooting a third bait 30 feet to the right, effectively distributing baits along three transect lines simultaneously. On average, one person can distribute 50 baits/acre over 50 acres in one hour with a “triple-shooter” mounted on an ATV.​
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​A wildlife biologist with the FWS integrated fipronil for successful flea control, the BoilieRoller for mass bait pellet production, and the triple-shooter for a practical and efficient bait distribution system, to create a new flea control system using a new bait pellet made from all food-grade ingredients, including peanut butter and molasses, that also contained tiny amounts of fipronil and dubbed them “FipBits”. Researchers in Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota reported nearly 100% flea control on PDs one year after a single treatment of 50 FipBits/acre (2.2 ounces of FipBits/acre) and very good flea control two years after a single treatment on some experimental plots.
 
The ingredients to make FipBits cost about $0.50/acre, and with the efficiency of distributing them along transects with a triple shooter, flea control with FipBits is expected to cost 90% less than using insecticide dust or fipronil grain. To help address the flea resistance issue, the FWS has begun evaluating different active ingredients used to control fleas and ticks on dogs and cats with oral “treats” as a substitute for fipronil in the FipBit manufacturing and distribution model. Rotating active ingredients should prevent fleas from developing resistance to any one active ingredient. The FWS is working with regulatory agencies to expand and refine FipBit use and many people are hopeful FipBits may become a “game-changer” in the battle against plague in support of BFF recovery.
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