Tick ID program mentioned in Press Herald article on mild temperatures
The tick identification program offered by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension was mentioned in a Portland Press Herald article about the effects this winter’s mild temperatures have had on Maine creatures. Typically, ticks are prevalent in Maine for just over half the year, from the middle of spring to the middle of the fall, according to the article. The unusually warm weather this winter, however, meant having only two months free from the pests, said Griffin Dill, coordinator of UMaine’s tick identification program. Dill said the last tick submitted to the program last year arrived on Christmas Day, and samples started coming back before the middle of March, more than a month early. More ticks tend to die during the winter when there are a few weeks in a row of temperatures around zero with no snow on the ground to provide insulation, he said, but that never happened this year. “They are going to be out early in higher numbers,” Dill said. The UMaine tick ID lab also was mentioned in a WVII (Channel 7) report about vets seeing an increase in Lyme disease among pets, as well as a Maine Edge article on Lyme disease prevention.