Lyme Disease's worst enemy?

[Kattt]

It might be foxes.

One more reason to like these awesome little critters

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/science/ticks-lyme-disease-foxes-martens.html?ref=todayspaper

[Alex Wallace]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[Rodney Ackerman]

It is interesting. This is the first year we have noticed so many ticks in our small plot in the world. We have also commented over the past couple years that the foxes are gone and the coyotes are everywhere. Hmmmm….what to do?

[Ken Thompson]

Saw a fox this morning at the park. That was a first for me there. Pretty healthy population in Humboldt. Nice to see them here.

[Greg Mihalik]

Once again we are reminded of the balance of nature, and the consequences of messing it up.

Thank you Katharina.

[Simon Kenton]

Guinea fowl work too

 

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/nova-scotia/guinea-hens-nova-scotia-ticks-1.4138501

[Bruce Tolley]

@Rodney.  I do not follow your comment about foxes being gone and coyotes appearing in reference to small rodents as vectors for Lyme.

Coyotes also eat small mammals. Foxes are impacted adversely by habitat destruction and,in Northern California, competition from feral cats.

[Rodney Ackerman]

Just  a first thought observation. So I  surfed a bit and of course found conflicting  information. What follows is what I had been led to understand previously:

“Coyotes will most definitely kill a fox. I have hunted coyotes for years. Have studied their behavior just as long. I’ve witnessed a family group of coyotes move into a area. That was already populated by a fox family group. The coyote family group of older pair with two younger coyotes hunted down and killed every member of the fox group. Killed both adults and 4 pups. Found both adult fixes deaD and stripped partially eaten. I heard the night the coyotes got into the fox den. One of the most horrible noises I’ve ever heard was the fox pups screams. I went to investigate and it was even a more brutal scene. The coyotes had killed all the pups. Coyotes kill foxes just like wolves kill coyotes to eleminate competition.”

Also this: “They eat any small animal they can capture, including mice, rats, gophers,…”

So in the case of Lyme and mice perhaps they would in effect be a replacement of the fox?

 

[Todd Stough]

So in the case of Lyme and mice perhaps they would in effect be a replacement of the fox?

Assuming they are as good at catching the mice as a fox.  You would think that feral cats might be the solution, not the problem.  They are very good at catching mice.

Here in PA ticks are out of control.  The deer are loaded with them, there is hundreds on the deer.  I keep wishing the game commission would begin to adress the problem.  Perhaps instead of releasing ring necks for people to hunt they should release guinea each year.

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