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Coyotes-Wolves-Cougars.blogspot.com

Grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars/ mountain lions,bobcats, wolverines, lynx, foxes, fishers and martens are the suite of carnivores that originally inhabited North America after the Pleistocene extinctions. This site invites research, commentary, point/counterpoint on that suite of native animals (predator and prey) that inhabited The Americas circa 1500-at the initial point of European exploration and subsequent colonization. Landscape ecology, journal accounts of explorers and frontiersmen, genetic evaluations of museum animals, peer reviewed 20th and 21st century research on various aspects of our "Wild America" as well as subjective commentary from expert and layman alike. All of the above being revealed and discussed with the underlying goal of one day seeing our Continent rewilded.....Where big enough swaths of open space exist with connective corridors to other large forest, meadow, mountain, valley, prairie, desert and chaparral wildlands.....Thereby enabling all of our historic fauna, including man, to live in a sustainable and healthy environment. - Blogger Rick

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Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Ticks that carry Lyme Disease are not getting killed off easily with Warming temperatures allowing them to get through the historical colder months unscathed...........U. of Wisconisn Entomologist Phil Pellitteri says-----"Deer ticks go dormant in frost, but once that hillside heats up at midday, they bounce right back"......"Typically, a drought tears into tick numbers, but we didn't see that this year"...... "Their rebound is impressive compared to past droughts, but no one knows why"...........Deer ticks in the larval stage are usually clean because they're in their first life cycle and commonly target thin-skinned rodents(mice, voles, etc), which is where they acquire Lyme disease bacteria.................... After falling off their first host and reaching their nymph stage, they'll seek a second host, even those with thicker skin, including humans..................It is estimated that Wisconsin sees 30,000 cases of new Lyme Disease annually------We are not getting rid of the ticks anytime soon...................We need a preventive vaccine as this disease can be extremely debilitating and even death causing if not treated with antibiotics very quickly after being bitten

Deer ticks are still around deep in autumn

greenbaypressgazette.com
Barring a statewide
 snowstorm the
 next few days, it's not
 too late to get
outdoors, head for a
hillside with thick 
underbrush, and
 spend the rest of the
 day picking deer ticks.
If you have any
doubts where to find 
the most deer ticks,
 just tag along 
with a grouse hunter or
 help a deer
 hunter track a buck.
 Great tick habitat 
is usually perfect for
hiding grouse,
 deer and rabbits, too.














At least that's the opinion
 of professor
 Phil Pellitteri at the
 University of
 Wisconsin-Madison
. And he should 
know. Not only is Pellitter
i a professional
 entomologist, but he's
 also a serious 
hunter. Pellitteri said it's
uncommon to
 find wood ticks after
 mid-August, but
 it's common to encounter
 deer ticks 
deep into autumn, even
after overnight
 frosts. Pellitteri said
. "You won't ever 
find deer ticks while
walking railroad
 tracks in Madison
 like you do with 
wood ticks. But when
 you're pushing 
through thick brush
on hillsides in fall, 
you'll have no trouble
 finding deer ticks.
 Heaven for grouse
 and rabbits is the
 same for deer ticks."
Pellitteri said deer
 ticks are more 
numerous this year
 than expected after
 widespread drought
in 2012, but reports
 indicate they're not
 exceptionally high
 anywhere in Wisconsin.
"Typically, a drought tears
 into tick 
numbers, but we didn't
see that this year," 
he said. "Their rebound
 is impressive 
compared to past droughts,
but no one
 knows why and I'd just be
 guessing if I
 tried. Their numbers are
moderate.
 There's always areas
where you find 
more than others, but
 I'm not aware
 of any exceptional
regional differences."
The good news is
that we're past 
Wisconsin's worst
season for picking
 up Lyme disease,
which is carried by
 deer ticks. Lyme
disease usually 
spikes in summer
 when deer-tick nymphs
 are abundant. Nymphs
are smaller than
 adult deer ticks, but larger
 than the
 larval-stage ticks found
 in spring.
"We're seeing a real
 connection 
between Lyme disease
 and the deer
 tick's nymph stage,"
Pellitteri said.
Deer ticks in the larval
 stage are usually
 clean because they're
in their first life
 cycle and commonly
 target thin-skinned
 rodents, which is where
 they acquire
 Lyme disease bacteria
. After falling 
off their first host and
reaching their
 nymph stage, they'll
 seek a second
 host, even those with
 thicker skin, 
including humans.
Even though it takes a
 deer tick nymph 
48 hours and more to
 transmit Lyme
 disease, we often
don't notice them 
because they're fairly
 small. They 
certainly aren't the size
 of wood ticks
 that gorge ondogs
for days, and fal
l off when looking like
 fat, gray 
watermelon seeds.
Adult deer ticks can
 transmit Lyme
 disease in autumn,
but because
 they're now larger, it's
 common to
 see or feel them within
 the 48-hour window.
Even so, people who
 spend lots of time
 outdoors in autumn
 must remain vigilant
 for deer ticks. Pellitteri
estimates about 
40 percent of adult deer
 ticks carry Lym
e disease, so doctors often
 give a one-day 
dose of antibiotics as a
 precaution when 
someone digs one
from their hide.
"That's a preventative
 measure that's
 proven effective,"
Pellitteri said. "Doctors 
no longer wait for symptoms
to appear. If
 the person finds a deer
 tick and it's been
 at least 48 hours since
 they were in the woods, 
antibiotics are a good
 precaution."
Further, Wisconsin is
 home to more Lyme 
disease than experts
 once assumed. In fact,
 the U.S. Center for Disease
 Control estimates
 only about 10 percent of
 Lyme disease cases
 get reported. Therefore,
Pellitteri estimates 
Wisconsin generates
about 30,000 cases 
of Lyme disease annually.
No one expects those
 numbers to decline,
 either. Recent research
 has found Lyme 
disease increases as
 coyote populations
 grow, and coyotes are
increasingly 
common in Wisconsin.
 The theory is that
 as coyotes expand
their range and 
numbers, they kill and
 displace gray 
and red foxes, which
prey heavily on 
mice and other small
 rodents.
As rodent numbers
 rebound while
 foxes disappear,
 coyotes don't pick
 up the slack. They
continue targeting
 larger prey. This allows
 a growing 
army of rodents to carry
 deer-tick larvae
 and spread Lyme
disease.(Many
 Biologists dispute
 this notion---
Coyotes are
 outstanding consumers
 of rodents and other 
deer tic carrying 
mammals--Blogger Rick)
Sigh.
Winter's ice and snow
suddenly 
sounds more inviting
. No one gets
 Lyme disease while
 wearing gaiters
 and snowshoes.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I can relate! I just recently had a bout with Lyme's Disease(or some similar tick-borne ailment--they are all easily treatable with the fairly cheap antibiotic Doxycycline)--and it was NO FUN! TERRIBLE joint pain, as well as lethargy like- yet unlike the flu. I was diagnosed by one doctor as "just getting old"(many doctors in the Southeast are rather ignorant of Lyme's Disease, or reluctant to diagnose it because the damn insurance company mafia won't pay for it!), and my blood tests for Lyme's kept coming up negative, as apparently 90% do when you've had it awhile(as I had)--so far there are no really good tests(I looked all this stuff up on the internet--an excellent site is "Carolina Lyme"). But the treatment is cheap and easy, and luckily I went to ANOTHER doctor who suspected Lyme's right away and put me on the antibiotics which eliminated the debilitating joint pain(mine was mostly in my right knee and hip joints) and lethargy ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, and the symptoms(so far, knock-on-wood) haven't come back. It IS probably a miracle I've only now contracted my first tick-borne disease, as many ticks as I pull off myself roaming the woods all the time as I have for decades! But this crap is nothing to ignore(which is easy to do at first, because the symptoms come and go), so I advise everyone to BE AWARE--Lyme's disease is EPIDEMIC now!