Madison Area Lyme Support Group

Across this province and beyond, ticks are an increasingly troublesome reality for sportsmen and women. These little bloodsuckers are more than just annoying — they carry a host of ailments to which outdoor enthusiasts are especially vulnerable. Along much of their southernmost range, moose are struggling to adapt to the growing influence of ticks, and Ontario is no exception.

Tick troubles

By and large, human-tick encounters involve one of two species: the dog tick (aka wood tick) or the black-legged tick (aka deer tick), the latter of which is responsible for a rising incidence of Lyme disease in humans. Despite their increasing prevalence, however, neither of these species appear to be an issue for moose.

Instead, the trouble for our iconic forest-giant comes almost exclusively from Dermacentor albipictus, otherwise known as the winter tick. These pesky parasites are slightly larger than other species of North American ticks and are considered unique for their use of a single host-animal. While most species of tick switch hosts during their various life stages, winter ticks catch a ride on an unsuspecting ungulate as larvae and remain there until the swollen females are ready to drop to the forest floor, lay their eggs, and die.  (See link for article)

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**Comment**

Obviously, such a long feeding by upwards of 40,000 ticks on a singular moose will cause severe blood loss, emaciation, and anemia.  

These poor, plagued moose will rub on trees rubbing their hair off leaving them grey earning them the title “ghost moose.”

The article then predictably pushes the ‘climate change’ propaganda, blaming warmer winters for tick explosions, when independent research has shown this notion to be false.  Nobody seems to ever mention our government’s involvement of experimenting and dropping ticks from airplanes.

More specifically, in this link is a 1967 U.S. Army report, on page 600 that shows that ticks were experimentally infected with various pathogens.  For instance, on page 301 Boophilus australis was experimentally infected with murine typhus rickettsia.  Dermacentor albopiotus (the exact winter tick affecting moose) with spotted fever, Dermacentor andersoni with typhus rickettsiae, and so on and so forth.  The link to the army report is conveniently broken (censored) as it incriminates our own government and military.

It’s just easier to blame the climate boogey-man.

Sadly, 90% of moose calves will die due to this blood-letting.