Biologists in Vermont are joining their colleagues in neighboring Maine and New Hampshire to study the cumulative impacts of Winter tics, Deer Brain Disease and warming temperatures on Moose mortality

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/winter-ticks-bugging-vermonts-moose-death&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoTNjMzMTIxMzM0NTc1MzU4MDgwMzIaM2JiNTcwMGRiYTRlZTUyZDpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNFtfLYs_JXEW-vJ8wzGQamZkzySRw


https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2017/01/02/tiny-ticks-threat-vermont-moose/96066622/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoUMTU4MTQ3NjM4NDIwNjg2NzQ0NDQyGjNiYjU3MDBkYmE0ZWU1MmQ6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNGiY5ffgpsv3tywg2jZe14wFbbiPA

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2017/0104/What-does-Vermont-hope-to-learn-from-its-multi-year-moose-study&ct=ga&cd=CAEYASoTNDc0MTQ1MjYxOTYxNzU3MDAyNTIaM2JiNTcwMGRiYTRlZTUyZDpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNHUowVddZI2XC4IpuMcVWgL0rm8NQ

Winter ticks are bugging Vermont's moose to death

January 5, 2017

This month, biologists in Vermont will radio collar 60 moose in the state's herd of 2,200 animals to learn more about how winter ticks are affecting them.

According to Vermont Fish and Wildlife, "The ticks are becoming more prolific as spring and fall weather has warmed in recent years, causing some moose to collapse from blood loss or die from hypothermia after rubbing their insulating hair off in an attempt to rid themselves of the parasite."

Vermont is joining the previoius 5 year study of Moose mortality that adjacent states

Maine and New Hampshire have conducted.

 Up to 80 percent of the moose calves in the study in New Hampshire have died each year, with winter tick infestations far and away the leading cause of death. Since the late 1990s, New Hampshire’s moose herd has declined from about 7,000 to 3,800.

Calf survival has not been much better in Maine. Researchers there have documented up to 63,000 ticks on one moose, with 50,000 generally being a “lethal load,” as tick-infested moose eventually succumb to blood loss and depleted energy reserves.

Some scientists have pinned the die-off on climate-change related stress. As the forests get warmer, moose must expend more effort to keep themselves cool. This puts stress on the animal, leaving it vulnerable to disease, theorize some scientists.

Another factor likely is deer brain worm that attacks the moose’s spinal cord and brain. Or it could be some complex combination these factors. Or it could be some other climate-change related alternation in the moose’s ecosystem or habitat – one, perhaps, that no one has yet identified. Factors not related to climate change, like over-hunting, could also be involved.