Moose Mortality Rates Increasing Due To Winter Ticks

Recent data showed that the moose population in New Hampshire had been declining due to ticks. Experts are getting worried about the health of these species in the long term, as the upper hand seems to be held by the blood-sucking pests.

Moose biologist Kristine Rines said about the situation, "It doesn't bode well for moose in the long term if we continue to have these short winters."

Winter ticks thrive in shorter and milder winters, but it is during these periods that they latch onto the moose and feed them off large animals - one moose can host up to 75,000 of these pests and by the time spring rolls around, they become so weak and starved, and eventually, they die. It is only at this point that ticks finally release their grip on the massive animal, and continue on to their next host.

The recent data, according to HNGN, marks the second year of the high mortality rate for moose calves. However, Rines believes that a lower moose density will help the calves because the ticks depend on their population during the winters to survive. She said, "As our moose numbers decline, the ticks will decline, as well. What we don't know is at what point will things level off."

Maine moose biologist Lee Kantar agreed with Rines. In an article with Tech Times, he added that the winter tick stays with the moose until they molt and shed their winter coat, so the ticks' life stages - larvae, nymph, and adult all operate on the moose, taking blood meals on them on each of these occasions as well.

Today, teams are using net guns and tranquilizer darts to capture and collar moose to be examined for the study. Not only that - their blood and samples were collected to further evaluate their health. There is still a long way to go to fully understand the effects on these ticks to the moose and to the environment.