A biologist in Arizona has died of the plague after conducting an autopsy on a mountain lion. According to media reports, the Grand Canyon National Park has confirmed that Eric York likely contracted the disease in the course of his work on a lion tagging programme (USA Today).

“Eric did not play it safe. … He put his love for this earth and its creatures ahead of his own safety,” Margaret Payne, a family friend and bishop of the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, told mourners at his funeral (Massachusetts paper The Republican).

Human cases of plague are relatively rare in the US, with about 13 cases a year (AP). “His job brought him in very close proximity with wildlife. The general public would not be exposed in the same way that he would be, although we have been trying to emphasize that this is an area in northern Arizona that we know has plague,” said Matt Walburger, a consultant for the US Public Health Service (Arizona Republic).

Those who came into contact with York have been given antibiotics, although the last recorded case of human-to-human plague transmission was in 1924. The national park has announced new precautions visitors should take (LA Times).