Seriously, did someone really count 50,000 ticks or is that just another 'estimate', a number plucked out of thin air?
4
Man is the ultimate apex predator for despicable leisure hunting. Not for food. Man is major disrupter of Ecology. A prototype is Donald and Donald Jr. Fox checks the moose and moose by their sheer natural depopulation checks the ticks. It is called Ecology. I wish Darwin could comment in this important piece.
9
Good grief. "Changing climate" obviously has nothing to do with this. The reason the ticks winter on the moose is that the moose are warm, and in Maine and New Hampshire the winters are very cold. Moose are warm-blooded animals, so their body temperature doesn't depend on the weather.
The average nighttime low in January in Portland, ME, is 12°F = -11°C, and some nights are much colder. Even ticks have a hard time surviving such temperatures -- but that doesn't matter to ticks which are attached to a nice, warm moose.
That was true in the past, it is true at present, and it will be true in the future. A degree or two of climate change can't possibly change it.
Some people blame everything wrong on climate change, from forest fires to the heartbreak of psoriasis. It is insane.
14
Does everybody appreciate that all those ticks, now well-fed (full of fresh yummy baby moose blood), are going to molt into the next stage (and then maybe one more stage; I can't remember the exact cycle), and then give rise to about 100,000 baby ticks (more or less), which are then ready and able to crawl onto, and/or feed upon, your domesticated pet (say, dog or cat), and/or YOU??
As my cowboy grandpa, who nearly died at 50 from tick-dependent Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, used to say after a long day horseback on his Western Colorado ranch, "Hey Little Buddy, it's time to check for ticks!"
27
So why immediately lean on Climate Change? And Man-caused Climate change at that?
What about loss of tick predators?
3
Interesting article, but I find it hard to believe that Maine and New Hampshire had only 50 moose in the 1970's, and now have between 60,000 - 70,000. Considering the birth rate for moose, is this possible?
7
Moose getting covered with ticks are an example of what can happen when the weather in one area alters radically because the climate is changing so much faster than it has ever before. Forests and bark beetles are another example.
As disgusting as it may seem ecology isn't done by altering the subject's parasite load any more than subatomic particles can be studied by direct methods without changing the particle's properties.
The main lesson from this article is that climate change is causing a parasite that was formerly a nuisance to become a menace over the short term, once the population of moose drops as the young die off then so will the tick's population. People as well as other organisms will likely see other parasites or disease become threats besides the just the moose.
One in particular has been a disease striking children with acute flaccid myelitis making them weak and unable to move. Environmental toxins like those given off by Pseudo-nitzschia australis have been appearing in lakes and on coasts in states like Washington where waters are getting warmer. People have been warned to keep out and not let their livestock or pets near the water.
What other new threats is climate change going to bring? If we destroy the agencies and institutions in charge of finding out then we won't know until it's too late and most likely, when new populations get a parasite or virus that's expanded it's range and infects new hosts that haven't developed a resistance to it.
42
The rise in the turkey population might help this problem, although guinea hens are much better tick eaters. They use them on some of the islands off of Massachusetts where the tick problem is very bad.
31
Perhaps these areas would benefit from having more chickens.
17
I can attest to the tick problem moving north. I traveled to Kenai AK this summer. I found a tick on both me and my terrier companion while traveling through Washington state. My little dog again picked up a tick somewhere around Beaver Creek in the Yukon. Needless to say it was disgusting. This made me curious about ticks in AK. I learned that they are definitely there now. Many of them.
14
Where are the predators? If we want to avoid succumbing ourselves to tick infestation, we need to bring back the big predators and learn to coexist.
13
How about flea collars instead of just radio collars?
23
Not something anyone wants to do, but specific tick-borne diseases (Lyme's, Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever) are associated with specific tick species (deer ticks vs. Brown Dog Tick vs. Lone Star Tick, etc.). Find out which tick or which disease you're worried about, and then act accordingly. It's not a conspiracy theory, it's nature.
7
Death by ticks might also have been a contributing factor to the demise of giant sloths, mammoths and other iconic ancient megafauna of North America as the climate warmed and paleo Indians spread across the continent. These creatures might have survived the hunting pressure alone, but combined with the debilitating effect of tick infestation (and similar plagues) brought on by warm winters and habitat change these species didn’t have a chance a chance make it to through to the modern era.
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@doug mclaren
But Doug, what about mosquitoes? Mosquitoes most likely also contributed to the death of giant sloths, mammoths and other iconic ancient megafauna of North America as the climate warmed and paleo Indians spread across the continent. And what about fleas? Fleas probably took quite a toll as well. And tapeworms? Tapeworms are bad. Tapeworms can kill all by themselves; no ticks necessary. And what about kissing bugs? Or scabies? Or chiggers? Oh, and what about ringworm? A nasty case of climate change fueled ringworm can be a death sentence. But don't forget about lice or bedbugs. Maybe it was climate change induced Giardia or Cryptosporidium? Or possibly Bot flies? Bot flies are almost as bad as tapeworms. I wouldn't rule out Bot flies. But personally, I think it was most likely the climate change induced brain eating amoeba. They'll get you every time.
Evidence Doug, evidence. Don't make up bogus claims without any evidence. Without evidence you get sarcasm.
22
This shows again the multiple parts of human activity that affect relationships in the rest of the natural world. Climate changes, habitat changes, killing off of predators all disrupt systems that normally self-balance between populations of predators, prey and parasites.
A different problem from our climate impact that isn't helped by predators to control populations - increasing winter rain in the far north. Musk ox and reindeer evolved to survive long winters by breaking through snow to reach their food. Climates up there are warming fast, and there are now times when it rains instead of snows, then freezes solid.
https://www.thelocal.no/20120926/norway-study-reveals-reindeer-rain-fears
9
I don’t know, but putting on my supercomputer thinking cap (an obsolete Cray 670), I would say the solution to the abundance of ticks is to reduce the moose population (or move to new hamster). Anyway, that operation of trapping moose calf, & giving them a flea & tic treatment (As someone had suggested), seems it would be a big dust up, with that helicopter flying nearby and spreading flea and tick powderpuff into the air!
Anyhow, I don’t like texts either… Just one or two, imagine 35,000… I would not fare too well either with that mountain of tix on me
3
@Nasty Curmudgeon fr. What?
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Stopping the trapping of possums, who eat ticks and the banning of "thrill kill" contests that wipe out the predators (coyotes and foxes) of the rodents carrying these ticks, would go a long way in improving the outcomes for moose, deer and for people who are increasingly infected with Lyme disease. State legislators just have find a "spine" and stand up to their local Fish & Wildlife boards and demand change, regulations and the complete banning of trapping.
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@kladinvt
My acquaintance with a some local hunters in my old home area (not moose territory, but tick territory for sure) is that they see killing coyotes and fox as sport, oblivious to the way they help control rodents - and probably ticks.
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@kladinvt, the truly natural method of control is fire. You can argue that the balance of predators is messed up due to human interference, or that more deer and moose hunting is the answer. But what keeps insect infestations under control in nature is the occasional forest fire. Fire suppression is to blame.
5
@Cheryl
Well, the local hunters in your area are idiots, obviously.
6
How can anyone with a conscience catch, collar and release a tack infested animal and not treat it for the infestation? Sure, the moose will accrue ticks again, but in the meantime it might be able to get healthy.
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@Passion for Peaches Well, they're paying for a helicopter and doing that to each animal would slow down the tagging operation a lot. Maybe they need volunteers to go along and treat the animals they tag, I don't know.
The real problem is that the United States has become the world leader in refusing to take action to avert the coming climate disaster.
It seems that the country itself has no conscience.
17
@Passion for Peaches: they don’t treat the moose calfs for ticks because they need to understand what’s happening with the entire population. To do that you can’t intervene (beyond the absolute minimum of collaring a moose calf); treating the tick infestations would probably give their sample animals a big advantage, which would invalidate the results of their study.
Given the size of the adult moose population in Mane, there are probably tens of thousands of calfs born every year. To treat a significant fraction of that population, you’d need several hundred times the resources expended in this study. And once you start down that road, moose are no longer wild animals; they’re a species we’re explicitly subsidizing over others.
If moose were truly endangered, treating some calfs for ticks would be justified to determine if it contributed to the survival of those individuals. But the recent increase in moose population shows they’re not endangered. It may seem heartless, but we need to understand what is happening with the moose before we intervene. Especially if we wind up treating a symptom (tick infestation) while ignoring the underlying cause (climate change).
17
Watch the YouTube video on trapping a moose in the snow with a very bitchin’ helicopter & pilot, plus a three man crew to hold the kicking moose calf down... a very labor-intensive operation (I DO know what It would feel like, but) a kick from that mousses hooves would probably put a good size hole in a persons body
And, I for one am on the side of the tics (I live in the peta-tree hugger county of Santa Cruz, Ca); Imagine if someone tried to wipe out your population? around here, it would be considered genocide!
Just last August my wife and I went for some tourism to Interlaken, Switzerland; upon arrival we felt like going for a small hike in the very near mountains, and we ask for directions to the hotel owner. He told us, absolutely not to do it, because the ticks were overwhelming. He described how a dog and his owner had to go for treatment, especially the dog, because the poor animal ended fully black covered by thousands of ticks, and all that in just one half hour walk.
The problem is all over, and the diseases carried by those arachnids will change the way we do things outdoors.
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Went through Interlaken when I was doing a working tourism number and visited countries north of Italy ( right after the Chernobyl nuke thing); Got out quickly back then in 1986, I sure wouldn’t want to go ther now
4
@Nasty Curmudgeon fr., Boulder Creek and the surrounding mountains have a pretty high tick load, too.
4
@jmsegoiri, Avoid Massachusetts, especially Cape Cod and the Islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
We've got it all going on here in epidemic proportions.
It has been ground zero for decades.
It is not just Lyme alone, there's at least 5 other tick related diseases being transmitted to humans/animals.
34
CBC news ran a story about three months ago about placement of permethrin rubs in the woods of Nova Scotia. The bait was trough with feed in it, pesticide on fabric either side of trough so deer would rub. I’ve had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, we’ve lost 4 dogs, one cat in 20 years to tick borne illness, our chickens can eat only so many in a tiny footprint and if I burn the woods I’m committing a crime. Our start there was with toilet paper tubes filled with cotton balls soaked in permethrin. If Ag dept can throw out rabies vaccine like they do, we need to do the same to eradicate ticks. Lyme started with tiny part of tick population, it’s now in over 90% in places so we the collective gotta get to work.
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@sly creek Thanks for the info. Now, did the new report suggest that the permethrin rubs were effective?
11
I don’t understand how you can lose four dogs and a cat to tick-borne illness, sly creek. I live in a rural, high-tick-load area, but I treat my dogs for ticks. I’ve used Preventic collars on them, as well as spot treatments. But the most effective treatment is a daily check of their coats, the mowing of underbrush and grasses, rodent control around the property, and fencing out deer. Twenty five years, seven dogs, and no tick-borne illness here.
6
@Passion for Peaches
Hi Peaches, Lady Slycreek here-thank you for your efforts to keep your canine family safe- Preventic, (amitraz), is highly toxic to cats. We use other preventatives,( weedburning, mowing, brush removal, topicals, seresto collars, flea combs) as well as birds, to help control the load. It is not possible to fence these woods, as we are on a limestone outcropping. Now, all it takes is one bite to transmit Erlichia. This organism is implicated in not only Erlichiosis, but discoid Lupus, other autoimmune illnesses, and hemangiosarcoma, a cancer that affects the organs such as the spleen. I am sure there are more to list here. For cats, all it takes is one tick that has had a bobcat host that carried an illness called cytauxzoonosis. Increasing veterinary awareness of this illness has helped to increase survival chances of affected felines. By the way, all of these topicals and collars that we are using on our pets have their own risks, whether or not we choose to acknowledge the effects as related to the "preventatives". As one good veterinarian told me- Ticks have their own intelligence, they will go (migrate) to areas where they can feed. Some can also cause paralysis, so they and all their kin can feed longer. We do all need to be aware- this is a growing problem, the ends of which are no where in sight . That you are disturbed perhaps by our losses is one thing, we wish for no one to lose an animal to hemangiosarcoma or cytaux.
8
If they're netting and tagging them anyway, how about a little flea and tick treatment?!
58
Thank you to Dr. Pekins for the work he does, which is important. I can't think of many things I'd like to do less than pick 50,000 ticks off a dead moose, so I appreciate his dedication. I do live in a rural area where ticks exist, however, and I have picked many ticks off myself, other people, and animals during my lifetime. In one memorable incident, fireworks scared my dog into running off into the woods for several days. When we found her, my husband and I had to spend two consecutive evenings locating and picking hundreds of ticks off from beneath her fur. It was completely disgusting.
No matter where you live, you have to make peace with the flora and fauna, good and bad, which are in your location.
34
It would be helpful to know whether the range of the Moose Tick includes areas outside New England. Minnesota for example.
10
@Robin
From Wikipedia:
'Dermacentor albipictus, the winter tick, is a species of hard tick that is an external parasite of moose (Alces alces) in North America. Heavy infestations of up to 75,000 ticks[1] have been seen on single moose, and can lead to the death of the animal.[2]
There is evidence that the winter tick may be responsible for a steep decline in the Eastern moose population throughout the southern half of their range.[3] The tick can be found all across North America, and has a large geographic distribution. While it can be found in several different habitats, it is often time located in areas with a presence of moose.[4]'
15
@Robin
It does extend beyond New England to Minnesota, among other places. There was an article in the Times a few years ago reporting on the loss of a large percentage of the moose herd there due to this same tick/climate change problem.
23
Citing Wikipedia just made your point a lot harder to believe.
5