UPDATE FROM REDONDO MEADOWS. As of yesterday, a single prairie dog has emerged from hibernation at our post-plague colony site. If you'll recall, this site had 12 prairie dogs in July 2017, of which 6 were found and marked before going down for the winter in September 2017. We do not know if the missing 6 fell prey to predators or if they went into hibernation early.

So far our single winter survivor is yearling female Black Butt (BB), who was a juvenile in July 2017 and had two siblings. Yearling females usually mate in their first year, so there is hope a male from a nearby subcolony will find her when she goes into estrus.

We also still hold hope for BB's siblings and the remainder of the other prairie dogs at the site to emerge from hibernation soon. Stay tuned and fingers crossed!