Amid concerns over the health of Maine’s moose population, a new study that has just begun is aiming to learn more about the impact of ticks and the diseases they’re bringing north.
For centuries, the moose has been a source of sustenance for people in Maine, and today the forest ungulate is both an icon of Maine and key part of the state’s hunting tourism.
But all is not well with Maine moose. While the state’s moose population is estimated at some 76,000 by the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, there are major concerns about the vitality of moose herds and the increasing prevalence of winter ticks, parasites that feed off the animal’s blood over the winter. Moose hunting permits have been cut in half in the last three years, and the DIF&W estimates that moose are having fewer calves.
The DIF&W is involved in a range of research on moose health, including a project with the University of New Hampshire tracking collared moose and tick impacts at three different latitudes, in northern New Hampshire, western Maine and northern Aroostook County.
Adding to that research is a new collaborative study involving the Aroostook Band of Micmacs and youth tribal members, University of Maine Presque Isle wildlife biology professor Jason Johnston and the Maine Medical Center Research Institute.
With funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the collaborative project is in the midst of an ongoing multi-part study analyzing tick and blood samples from moose and deer harvested by hunters — including testing moose for Lyme disease.
“Nobody else has really done this. It’s brand new research in some cases,” said Dena Winslow, tribal planner with the Band of Micmacs.
Seven tribal youth are assisting the research as paid interns, aiding with sample collection at game tagging stations and in another component of the study collecting tick samples from woodland, among other things. In early October, Winslow led a crew of interns to Ashland where along with DIF&W officials they took blood and tick samples.
The ticks collected at the stations are sent to the Maine Medical Center Research Institute lab. The veterinary company IDEXX has also donated SNAP test tests to test moose blood for exposure to Lyme disease, and any moose that test positive will have tissue samples taken and sent to IDEXX for further study.
The project will last a year, and the results will be shared with the partners and possibly published at the end of the process, Winslow said.
