CONCORD, New Hampshire — Moose calves are dying at unprecedented levels in parts of New England, mostly because of the hordes of winter ticks — as many as 90,000 on one animal — that latch onto their bodies and drain their blood.
Those are the findings from a new study in the Canadian Journal of Zoology that looked at moose health over several years in New Hampshire and Maine. The study identified 125 calves that died from 2014 to 2016 in the two states and found that tick infestations caused nearly 90 percent of those deaths. Ticks were also impacting female adults, resulting in fewer calves being born and a decline in overall calving rates.
Researchers found overall mortality rates of 70 percent among calves over that period, compared to about 15 percent two decades ago. The only bright spot came in 2017, when mortality rates were about 30 percent; researchers attributed that to a September drought and earlier snowfall resulting in fewer ticks.
To read the rest of “Ticks decimating New England moose, but northern Maine herd OK for now,” an article by the Associated Press, please follow this link to the BDN online.
