Deer key to tick-fighting plan

The Halifax Regional Municipality is hoping to fight the spread of blacklegged ticks, and the Lyme disease they can carry, by using a pesticide on deer.

Municipal staff recommend deer bait stations for a wooded area in Bedford. Regional council is expected to decide Tuesday whether to seek permission from provincial and federal officials.

Bedford Coun. Tim Outhit supports the plan, especially since the mild winter and early spring could mean a bad year for ticks.

"People find them in their driveways, they find them in their backyards," said Outhit. "We've got to take another kick at this because another year of inaction is not satisfactory to me."

Admirals Cove Park has had an infestation of blacklegged ticks for a few years. These ticks can carry a parasite that causes Lyme disease, and several people and pets have been diagnosed with the illness.

Blacklegged ticks, sometimes known as deer ticks, spread quickly because they hitch a ride on a variety of animals. The idea of a bait station is to prevent the tick from getting on the 20 deer in the park in the first place.

"Basically, the deer will come in and be fed and while they are feeding the station will actually put a chemical onto them, much like a cat or a dog would have a flee or a tick collar," said Outhit.

"It will kill the ticks on them and, hopefully, it reduces the spread of the ticks."

Municipal staff suggest this use of the Y-Tex tickicide because it means no spraying over a large area. A test of the system without the pesticide was done in Lunenburg.

Outhit hopes the bait stations are in place by the end of spring.

Dr. David Evans, a veterinarian,said it appears that tick season is three weeks early this year.

"With the milder spring now, the ticks are more active. We do see them in the middle of winter, but those numbers are so small it's ridiculous. But right now we're seeing large numbers are coming through," said Evans.

There have been 48 confirmed cases of Lyme disease in Nova Scotia since 2002 one-quarter of them reported just last year.