A tick that was removed from Ken Moorman's wife's hair. The Penticton couple counted six ticks on themselves after a hike.
Image Credit: SUMBITTED/Ken Moorman
April 02, 2021 - 6:30 AM
An avid Penticton hiker says he has never seen so many ticks before this year, let alone had to remove them from his body.
“This year is just a hands-down, lights-out explosion of ticks, people are saying they’re pulling two dozen ticks off their pets,” Ken Moorman said.
He posted about the ticks he found in popular B.C. and Okanagan hiking groups in order to spread awareness about ticks.
Last week, Moorman and his wife went on a hike, only to later pull six ticks off themselves after finding them on their bodies days later.
“We’ve been hiking for years in the Okanagan Valley as far south as McIntyre Bluffs near Oliver, as far north near Lake Country and (ticks weren't) really on our radar. This year we literally brought them home with us, they got attached to us and had to pull them off."
He said others are also warning about ticks on social media.
READ MORE: Tick season begins with a major infestation for one Okanagan pooch
Although there isn’t a way quantify a rise in ticks this year or any other year, Thompson Rivers University biology professor Rob Higgins said this year’s mild winter could allow for more ticks in the region because they come out as soon as the snow melts.
Higgins said the Rocky Mountain wood tick is most commonly found by residents in the region.
The wood tick doesn’t carry the Lyme disease-causing bacterium but can cause temporary paralysis if it attaches to a human for long enough.
The tick that can carry Lyme disease is the Western black-legged tick and about 12 cases of Lyme disease are reported in B.C. each year.
READ MORE: Tick season has arrived in Okanagan, Kamloops
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