Read this in a local paper this morning, seems that tick infestation is an increasing problem, especially if you work/exercise your dogs in bracken
Quote:
Lyme fears
Oct 11 2008 by Andrew Forgrave, Daily Post
CHANGING farm practices, and the rise of conservation, have fed to fears that Lyme Disease could spiral out of control.
It is still relatively rare in Wales but sufferers claim the condition is often misdiagnosed and under-reported.
It is usually caught in late summer from ticks in dense bracken.
Ramblers are often warned to wear appro-priate clothing and to avoid walking down-wind from bracken.
Wrexham falconer Terry Large said: “Tick numbers are horrendous. I read somewhere that over the last 30-40 years an area the size of Yorkshire has been covered by bracken.
“Rabbits, hares and sheep all pick up ticks and pass on diseases such as louping-ill, which affects grouse, and Lyme Disease.”
Bracken was once harvested across Wales for use as livestock bedding and feed, even to fuel ovens and make rudimentary soap.
A few farmers, main-ly in Meirionnydd, still collect it but since the 1960s, when improved road networks brought straw to Wales from East Anglia, its spread has been remorseless.
Even before the ban, tick numbers were increasing rapidly, with farmers reporting 20% lamb losses in heavily infested areas.
Victoria
That is very interesting, John. Domestic deer movement have spread tick populations here. But in this high country area they do not seem prevalent; up in the north of the North Island infestations can be high. Nasty nasty.
Patricia
It is true that with deer come ticks. It has been obvious on the farm too as we now have a population of red deer we never used to have ( looking at foor prints) as well as a few roe deer and a couple of Fallow. Plus the muntjacks.
So, now, frontline it is. The best collar for the other " nasties" is the Scalibor which we put on when going in the South of France or with wooded areas.
I had a friend who moved to France and caught Lyme...He nearly died, he lived in the Charente and there were woods. He hunted a Brittany and Petits Bleus de Gascogne...He was paralysed one side for quite sometimes I think...
