By Jim Stewart

This past summer we ran a story on Deer Ticks which is now on our Health Alerts page.  Apparently Southwestern Ontario wasn’t the only place that was experiencing this problem.  Dover, Massachusetts had its problems and according to this story on NPR radio, Lyme Disease is epidemic in some parts of New England.  So Dover has decided, for better or worse, to fight Lyme Disease with Bows and Arrows and has approved a massive cull of 75% of the deer population assuming that it will help alleviate the problem.  But it may not be the solution some people expect.  To quote from the article, “Killing deer is not a magic bullet.  People have to manage their vegetation, they can clean up around their homes.  These ticks need high humidity, so if you have brushy areas and lots of leaf litter, that’s a great place for the ticks to develop.”  As an aside, the guy who wrote the story accumulated 20 ticks in the space of one hour when he was outside researching the article.

I love venison, but I had to make sure I wasn’t reading an episode of South Park.  Obviously we have a problem in the northeast with deer overpopulation, and a cull is preferable to starvation.  If you’ve ever taken your kids to the Pinery and seen the carcasses of starved deer it’s not a pretty sight.  But assuming that deer ticks are caused by deer is a pretty big leap.  These insects go in cycles and spells, like a bad year for fleas, mosquitoes, beer bugs, or even bedbugs.  2010 was the worst, most humid summer I can remember.  I came away with one thought:  thank god they aren’t called Canadian Ticks, or Old People’s Ticks, or First Born Young Ticks.

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