Plague-Infected Squirrels Close Campsite

To further dampen the current reputation of Yosemite, a week prior to this announcement of the closing of Tuolumne Meadows camp, a young child from California contracted the plague from another of the park’s camps after visiting the area with family.

Like the rest of California, Yosemite has been affected by a historic drought that has dried up streams and creeks as well as parched many trees.

“Fallen branches like this one are a common occurrence across the park”, a spokesperson for the park said.

Situated at 4,000 feet in the Yosemite Valley, the campground is a reservations-only site near Curry Village.

Early symptoms of plague include high fever, chills, nausea, weakness and swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpit or groin, according to the health department.

Plague is carried by squirrels, chipmunks and other wild rodents and their fleas.

California Department of Public Heath workers treat the ground to ward off fleas at the Crane Flat campground in Yosemite National Park, California in this August 10, 2015 handout photo released to Reuters on Friday. The child has been recovering in hospital.

“As an extremely precautionary public health measure, flea treatment will be applied to rodent burrows in Tuolumne Meadows Campground because several dead animals were tested and found to be carrying plague”, park officials said in a statement.

This week it was two dead squirrels that were found to have the plague, which is spread to humans by fleas, so treating the area to rid the fleas is considered an important precaution.

Set within the Sierra Nevada mountains, the 1,200 square mile national park is one of America’s most popular tourist attractions. “Watch for falling trees!”

The same series of events happened in 1992, when a branch from an oak tree fell cracked and fell onto another touring bus, injuring seven people. The juveniles were sleeping in their tent when an oak tree limb fell and hit them, reports CBS Sacramento. The incident occurred at around 5 a.m. local time.