Officials in Golden have asked residents to remove anything from yards that might attract squirrels after one such rodent tested positive for the bubonic plague, the Denver Channel reports. Golden Fire-Rescue says that includes bird feeders and squirrel feeders.
The diseased squirrel was found near the Colorado School of Mines earlier this month.
Bubonic plague is a bacterial disease that spreads between mammals through flea bites. While bubonic plague killed millions in Europe during the Middle Ages, but the disease is now very rare and is treatable with antibiotics.
The death of a Larimer County teenager earlier this June was the first time since 1999 that plague took a human life in Colorado.
