In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, find out what habitat work is happening in the southwest part of the state, learn everything you probably ever wanted to know about ticks, and hear listener questions answered in the mailbag segment. The episode wraps up with a sample of conservation officer activity reports from the field.
Questions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD). You can also email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov, and even send your question as a sound file that you record on your phone to be played on the air!
Episode Hosts: Holly Vaughn, Hannah Schauer and Rachel Leightner
Producer: Eric Hilliard
Around the State Guest: Mark Mills
Main Interview Guest(s): Dr. Jean Tsao, Dr. Megan Porter and Dr. Dan O'Brien
Law enforcement segment host: Katie Gervasi
Questions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD) or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.
In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, find out what habitat work is happening in the southwest part of the state, learn everything you probably ever wanted to know about ticks, and hear listener questions answered in the mailbag segment. The episode wraps up with a sample of conservation officer activity reports from the field.
Questions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD). You can also email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov, and even send your question as a sound file that you record on your phone to be played on the air!
Episode Hosts: Holly Vaughn, Hannah Schauer and Rachel Leightner
Producer: Eric Hilliard
Around the State Guest: Mark Mills
Main Interview Guest(s): Dr. Jean Tsao, Dr. Megan Porter and Dr. Dan O'Brien
Law enforcement segment host: Katie Gervasi
Questions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD) or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.
Speaker 1:
You know what that sound means. It's time for the Michigan DNR's Wildtalk Podcast. Welcome to the Wildtalk Podcast, where representatives from the DNR's Wildlife Division chew the fat and shoot the scat about all things habitat feathers and fur. With insights, interviews, and your questions answered on the air, you'll get a better picture of what's happening in the world of wildlife here in the great state of Michigan.
Rachel:
Welcome to Wildtalk, I'm your host, Rachel Leightner, and here with me today is the fabulous Hannah Schauer. Hi, Hannah.
Hannah:
Well, hello. Thank you for that lovely introduction.
Rachel:
You're most welcome.
Hannah:
In this month's episode, we're shaking things up a little bit and have some new parts to the show that we're going to add, including the conservation officer report from our Law Enforcement Division. And as usual, later in the show, we'll be answering some of your questions from our mailbag, and we will also be revealing the winners of our Wildtalk Podcast mugs sometime during this episode, and you can find out how you could win one too.
Rachel:
We'll also be reairing our infamous tick interview with Dr. Jean Tsao, Dr. Megan Porter, and Dr. Dan O'Brien, because this time of year, we know lots of people have questions and want information about ticks. And then later on, we've got Mark Mills on the show to talk about what's going on for wildlife in the southwest region. But right now, we're going to shine our wildlife spotlight on the eastern tiger salamander.
Hannah:
The eastern tiger salamander is the largest land dwelling salamander in the state and can be found statewide as adults. They get to be six to 13 inches long, so they're fairly sizable for a salamander.
Rachel:
These tiger salamanders can have variation in coloration, but generally, they have yellow blotches on a black or dark background color, and the belly is usually a yellowish color. Newly transformed tiger salamanders tend to be a greenish-brown color with minimal spotting. As they grow older, the yellow blotches will then appear.
Hannah:
Salamanders, like frogs, will breed and lay eggs in ponds in the early spring. Egg masses are usually stuck to grasses or leaf litter near the bottom of the pond and females may produce 100 to over 5,000 eggs in one season.
Rachel:
Highly productive. That is a lot of eggs. Now, once those eggs hatch, the larva, which, if you're unfamiliar with salamander larva, they are somewhat similar to frog tadpoles. Now, they are about half an inch long and will usually transform when they reach four to six months old, then they'll transform or go through metamorphosis to reach their adult form.
Hannah:
Adult tiger salamanders spend most of their time underground. If they are above ground, it's usually in the evenings and typically in the spring for breeding season, and then again in the early fall, if they're moving around. Now, they are typically found in woodlands, but might also be found in open habitats, including grasslands, marshes, and even suburbs. They really just need to be near a body of water for breeding, preferably one that doesn't have fish.
Rachel:
Tiger salamanders enjoy eating worms, snails, slugs, and other insects. The larva are going to eat small crustaceans and insect larva, but when they're bigger, they may also eat frog tadpoles and maybe small fish.
Hannah:
Salamander eggs and larvae are eaten by a wide variety of predators, including aquatic insects, diving beetles, wading birds, snakes, and fish. Adult salamanders may be eaten by snakes, birds, and mammals. Now, as you might imagine, mortality for eggs in larvae can be high, but adults can potentially be long-lived for such a small critter. Some captive tiger salamanders have been recorded living more than 20 years, which I think is just crazy.
Rachel:
That's an awfully long time, yeah. We've learned a lot about tiger salamanders today. Next up, we'll be finding out what's happening in the southwest region, so you'll want to stick around.
Speaker 1:
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Hannah:
Welcome back to Wildtalk. Mark Mills is back on the show today to chat about happenings in the southwest region. Thanks for joining us today, Mark.
Mark:
Always happy to be on. Thanks for the invite.
Rachel:
Well, we're happy you're here. What would you say is the biggest accomplishment that the southwest region has tackled this quarter?
Mark:
It's always a hard question given the number of activities that we're working on, but I have to say that one of the biggest accomplishments, and it wasn't exactly this quarter, but let's reach back a little bit and include this, is the hiring of two new wildlife technicians, one at the Paris Field Office is named Rachel, and one at the Barry Field Office named Joe. Adding those two wildlife technicians has greatly increased our ability to do habitat work and maintain infrastructure on the ground in those two locations. It's always a lot of work to hire and recruit and find good people. We've successfully done that, and they're currently in their first year getting trained up and getting experience as to how we work, how we function, how the budget works, how work plans work, and how the annual cycle [inaudible 00:05:58] at each of the respective offices.
Hannah:
We're certainly excited to have new folks on board. It sounds like it will help your capacity for getting projects done as well. Speaking of project, what is the biggest project that you have looming on the horizon in the southwest region?
Mark:
There's one rather large project that we've been working on for a while, and that is some dike repairs up at Maple River State Game Area, north of Lansing. And that game area is an interesting and unique location. These dikes are designed to create floodings that we use for wildlife habitat, especially for shore birds and waterfowl and other water loving creatures. But these dikes also act as flood storage during flooding events, and the Maple River section that these dikes are on is very prone to flooding. The water will come up, it gets captured inside of these dikes, and then, when the water level goes down, that water is then held there, which helps to reduce flooding downstream.
Mark:
It's a multipurpose set of infrastructure that we have out there. It's extensive. It can be expensive to maintain, and there are rules and funding and partners, all these things need to be lined up for us to be able to accomplish these tasks. This one is probably going to be over $400,000 by the time it's done. But as you can see, based on the description, it's a very important project for many different people. And we find that many of these state owned areas, these state game areas, have other functions that most of the public don't really know or think about. And in this case, it's flood retention and the ability to control what water goes downstream and hold water where it's at. And that's a good thing, given the projected climate change and the flooding events that are supposed to be more and more frequent.
Rachel:
Yes, it does. Sounds like a priority project that's got numerous benefits, so thanks for talking about that, Mark. Let's go back and talk about your staff for a minute. What are some impressive contributions that some of your staff have made this quarter?
Mark:
With the addition of two staff, that is a huge contribution. There were many people in the region that were part of the hiring teams to add those two staff. And that is always a monumental effort. It takes many months and many interviews to come to conclusions as to the right person to hire so recognizing those folks is always important, but we have had some other noteworthy events. We teamed up with our Fire Resources Division, fire officers recently to conduct what we believe is the very first prescribed burn at Pentwater State Game Area. That was a big event for us, it's something that we hadn't done before, and we're trying to use prescribed fire as a tool on a greater part of the landscape. And it's a real challenge, especially to get to those areas that are more remote. I recognize the wildlife staff and the fire resources staff that assisted with that.
Mark:
We also have pulled off a 465-acre prescribed burn up at Muskegon State Game Area. There were, I think, 15 people, staff on that are fire qualified that were able to help pull off that effort, including a tool we don't get to use down here very often, which is a drone that drops fire from the sky. We can use this drone to ignite fires in some of these larger burns, and it saves a lot of staff time, a lot of walking, if you've ever been an igniter on these prescribed burns. That drone and the operator were very useful on that larger burn.
Mark:
Another wildlife technician, Chad Crumnower, has been working to address some longstanding issues with some old control structures on some floodings up at Gratiot-Saginaw State Game Area. There is an abundance of unknowns up there, so we've been working to inventory and to repair or remove or just otherwise address many of these berms and control structures that were installed in the mid-1900s, most of them, so 1950, 1960, a lot of this infrastructure was built. And trees have grown and vegetation has grown, making it a challenge to find and maintain these structures, so Chad's been doing a lot of work to address those.
Mark:
And infrastructure, as always, can be a time suck for us, something that takes a lot of time, a lot of money. Being strategic and inventorying what we have and ensuring that we're using those dollars wisely is important, otherwise we might spend time and effort on other activities that are less impactful. Chad should be recognized for taking the time to do that and making sure we're efficient and effective in our operations up there. Also in the staff recognition category, we should take a moment and appreciate Mark Sargent, who recently retired from Wildlife Division after over 30 years of service. I especially like to thank Mark. He's been a consistent leader and mentor and encourager to so many staff in the department and so many partners outside of the department. His leadership on prescribed burning and cropping improvements for habitat and many, many, many more, there's too many to list, should be recognized, and I just wanted to take the time to ensure that we appreciate him and wish him well in his retirement.
Rachel:
All right. Well, those are certainly some impressive contributions. Thank you for sharing, Mark. And again, thank you for joining. We always appreciate having you on the podcast and taking your time to share what's happening for wildlife in the southwest region.
Mark:
Thanks to you both.
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Holly:
Today, here in studio, we have Dr. Dan O'Brien of the DNR Wildlife Disease Lab and Dr. Jean Tsao of... She is an Associate Professor of the Fisheries and Wildlife Department over at Michigan State University. And we have Dr. Megan Porter, a graduate student, also at Michigan State University. Welcome to all three of you. Thank you for being here today.
Dan:
Thanks for having us.
Jean:
Thank you.
Holly:
Today we're talking about ticks, and we are finding more and more lately with our phone calls and emails that we get into our department, people are looking for tick related information and have concerns about ticks. And growing up, I don't really remember ticks being much of an issue in Michigan. It seems like things are changing. Has something changed or was I just unaware of the tick situation when I was younger?
Jean:
Holly, I think the situation is changing, and this is largely due to the fact that the blacklegged tick, also known as the deer tick, which is the vector for the Lyme disease pathogen, has been increasing in its abundance and in its spatial distribution within Michigan. And that's not unlike other places in the US, but in Michigan, actually, there have been many tick species here already, but the most prevalent one is the American dog tick. And that's been around, and it's been around in the Upper Peninsula and in the Lower Peninsula, but in the late or mid '80s, 1980s, the blacklegged tick was first discovered in Menominee County in the UP. And then, since that time, it's been spreading somewhat in the UP, but then sometime in the early 2000s, it was detected, the same tick, in southwestern Michigan. And then over that time, it's just been spreading.
Jean:
It may have been here in low numbers before in the Lower Peninsula in the late '90s or in early 2000s, but certainly something then changed and its abundance just grew. And we first saw it really, as far as ticks go, racing up the lakeshore of Lake Michigan in those coastal dune forests, and students in my lab had studied, beginning in 2004, and actually Eric Foster, who was at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, actually, he started studying this with Ned Walker and other folks at the Michigan DNR, including Steve Schmidt at the time, who was the state veterinarian at the time, they had looked at blacklegged ticks on hunter harvested deer in the early 2000s. And they saw that there were some more ticks in southwestern Michigan.
Jean:
And then, when my student Sarah Hamer came, she was working with Dr. Graham Hickling, who used to be here with me also, and we saw the tick progressing up the Lake Michigan lakeshore up from southwest Michigan up to Sleeping Bear Dunes in a matter of, I would say, six, seven years. And the numbers just have increased. And now, certainly, the ticks have spread inland a bit, and Lansing is a little bit of a hotbed in certain areas for the blacklegged tick. And they've actually reached over to the Lake Huron shoreline, but the distribution's still patchy. Some areas in the state, we still have a very hard time finding the blacklegged tick, but in other areas, I think a lot of people, including yourself, have been noticing more ticks. And then on top of that, unfortunately, not as much has been studied really carefully looking at the changes in the American dog tick numbers. But from what I understand, talking to people like Dan O'Brien and others who spend lots of time outdoors, it seems that the dog tick has been increasing in abundance as well. Even though it's widespread, the numbers seem to be increasing more.
Holly:
That's the one I see most often. When I find a tick on me, it's usually a dog tick. You've talked a little bit about blacklegged ticks and the dog tick. Can you explain maybe the differences between those and any other tick species that might be found here in Michigan?
Jean:
Yeah. Well, here in Michigan, as you were just saying, the American dog tick is the most commonly found tick by people and their companion animals. And we know that from data that of tick submissions to the state health department, as well as my graduate student has been looking at pictures received by the public through the Tick App, and then also, in her work looking at ticks that are presented on dogs from veterinarians. The American dog tick is the most prevalent, then it's the blacklegged tick, and then, from time to time, we also get on dogs and people this tick called the woodshop tick, which is in the same family as the blacklegged tick. And then there are a few others that are much less commonly run into by people and companion animals.
Jean:
The differences are, well, visually, they look different, but also, they're different because they, from a human health standpoint and animal health standpoint, they transmit different pathogens. The American dog tick transmits, is most well known for transmitting the Rocky Mountain spotted fever and other bacteria in the spotted fever group, and which can, they can cause people to feel like they have the flu and such, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever can be fatal. However, those pathogens are at much lower prevalence amongst the tick population, so we rarely hear about people in Michigan contracting Rocky Mountain spotted fever, although it happens every few years. And then we hear some press releases to remind people that, beware of this. You still have to be aware of this tick causing problems, even though many of us have picked them off of us in the field.
Jean:
The American dog tick in our areas, up here in the Midwest, is often known as the wood tick, so that's very important to get across. These are the two names for the same species. And I should say, as a visual, I heard this from Selma. I thought it was great that usually, they're these larger brown ticks, but the female adult tick, and they come in male and female forms, she has this little creamy coloring that sometimes people call a necklace on her top side. And then the males, however, have more of this, they have a coloration pattern that extends their whole body. Some people call it looking more like golden pinstripes, so little white to differentiate the male and female dog tick.
Holly:
Necklace and pinstripes.
Jean:
That's right, versus some others. Yeah, right. Then the blacklegged tick, or also, AKA, its other name is the deer tick is the one that transmits the Lyme disease pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi. And there are multiple stages that people can encounter. The adult stage, and so the female tick, she has this red cover. Her body looks mostly red and she has a little black shield. And then the male is just pretty much all dark brown and black. And they are the size, they say the male is the size of a sesame seed, and the female's a little larger. And then the nymphal stage, where we call the teenage stage, is pretty much, it's the size of a poppy seed.
Holly:
That's tiny.
Jean:
Yes, of a little poppy seed with legs, eight legs, and more dark coloring. And then the larval stage, where people hardly ever see, people might call them seed ticks if they come across them and a whole bunch come on them, but those are little, they have six legs, and they're even smaller.
Holly:
You've talked a little bit about some of the human health risks that are associated with ticks. Let's dive a little deeper into the Lyme disease concern with blacklegged ticks. And there is a connection with deer and mice and blacklegged ticks. What is that connection and what is the relationship there?
Jean:
The blacklegged tick has four life stages. It's got the egg stage, then it's got the larval stage, which has six legs, the nymphs, which have eight legs, and then the adults, which come morphologically, you could actually see males and females. Ticks are obligate parasites, they have to get a blood meal at every stage. The larva is going to be looking for a host. And these ticks also, they don't run after anyone and they don't fly and they don't drop from trees.
Dan:
They don't drop out of trees. [inaudible 00:22:31].
Jean:
That's right. The mom lays the eggs in one clutch, something like 500 to 2,000 eggs at one time. Then the larvae emerge, they hatch out of their eggs, and they are hungry and they're looking for a host. They will wave their front pair of legs in this term, we call questing, questing for a host, and because ticks don't have antennae, but they have little organs at the tip of their front pair of legs, right under their claws, and they wave them in the air, and they sense things like heat, passage of light, maybe some carbon dioxide that hosts might emanate. And then, so when a host comes by, they also feel vibrations, and they may attach. Then they'll attach to a host and there can be many different species of hosts that larvae feed on. People have counted maybe 100, 150, it depends. They're generalist ticks, parasites, so they will feed on small mammals, mice, voles, shrews, they'll feed on birds, any that forage on the ground, so robins, catbirds.
Dan:
Ovenbirds.
Jean:
Ovenbirds, yes. And in certain places, if they exist, they will feed on lizards as well. I actually, we saw a great picture from one of our summer workers from Port Crescent State Park that was of a five-lined skink, so they will feed on five-lined skinks, they love skinks. And they will then definitely feed on medium sized and large sized mammals, so raccoons, possum, skunks, squirrels, and then whitetail deer, as well as bear, et cetera. The larvae can feed on all of these, but they tend to feed mostly on probably the small mammals, in part because the small mammals are so numerous and in their habitat, running around in our woods here.
Dan:
Just more likely, basically, that they'll run into a rodent than a lot of other things.
Jean:
Right. And then, what happens is they take their blood meal, they're on the host for about three, four days, takes them that long to suck enough blood to be fully engorged, and larvae are born without the infection. At that point, if the host is infected, they will suck in the pathogens, these spirochetes that cause Lyme disease. Then what'll happen is when these larvae, when they finish feeding, they'll detach on the host, drop into the leaf litter, and they will undergo development and molt into the nymphal stage. They'll grow another pair of legs, they'll be a little bigger. And if they were infected in their larval blood meal, they'll then be infected as unfed nymphs, hungry to get on another host.
Jean:
And then, when a host passed by, and again, all the same types of hosts these nymphs would be feeding on just like they had as larvae. Then, if it's a host species that actually can get infected with the Lyme disease pathogen, because not all hosts can, then the nymph will transmit that pathogen to the host. And then that host will become infected and be able to pass it back to any other larvae or nymphs that feed on it. If the nymph then, let's say so after it finishes feeding, it's infected, it drops into the leaf litter to molt into the adult. When it comes out as a male or a female, it will be infected, but the female and the male, what happens next? They need a blood meal, but they also need to find each other and mate. That's the job of the adult tick.
Jean:
What they do, again, unlike mosquitoes, they don't fly around and they don't do massive migrations to find a host and find each other. What happens is they just wait and they queue to a large host. And in our ecosystems, the most abundant large host is the whitetail deer. When they do that, they get on a host, then they're actually able to get their blood meal, and they're probably going to be likely to find their mate. I often say in my classes, it's just like when people want to find each other, a partner or spouse, instead of going out just randomly, they go to a bar, something like that, coffee shop, bar, whatever is here.
Dan:
Right, so the deer is like a tick bar.
Jean:
Exactly. And for audiences who might remember, I think of it as a tick Love Boat.
Holly:
There you go.
Dan:
More romantic.
Jean:
Right, and it's cruising around in the woods. But the thing is, in terms of infection, the deer aren't competent hosts. They cannot be host for the pathogen, I should say. They're great hosts for the adult ticks. And the female takes the large blood meal, and once she's mated, then she's able to drop off and then lay her eggs, and then she dies, unfortunately. But then the deer does not become infected, so it can't ever transmit this pathogen to any other subsequently feeding ticks, but also what happens then it's then the whole life cycle of the pathogen comes to screeching halt because the female does not pass her pathogen on, the Lyme disease spirochetes on to the baby ticks. That's why when the baby ticks are born, they're uninfected. Ticks don't transmit the pathogen on to future generations of ticks and the hosts don't pass on the infection to their progeny. It has to be this tag team dynamic.
Dan:
Right, which is interesting to me because they even have the name, the deer tick, so a lot of people think that deer play a big role in transmission of Lyme disease. But essentially what you're saying is that other than just being a sort of meeting place for the ticks and a place for them to get a blood meal, they actually cut off the infection rather than act as a source of Lyme disease for more ticks
Jean:
That's right. Actually, you see, in some areas, they've seen some research in Sweden and others, the more deer you have, the lower the proportion of tick that are infected.
Dan:
Which is really interesting because I think most of our listeners will think the opposite. Again, because the tick is called a deer tick, people think where you have really abundant populations of whitetail deer, you're going to have a lot of Lyme disease, but that isn't necessarily the case.
Jean:
But what happens is when you have more deer, you have more ticks. Proportionately, they're less infected, but number-wise, you may have more infected ticks. Then your listeners, they might say, "Ah, maybe I was right."
Dan:
There you go.
Jean:
It would be more infected ticks. But the relationship is a little more complex than that, so you can't always predict how much Lyme disease in the tick population there will be just based on the deer population. But there are other hosts out there that vary in how well they can host the tick and the pathogen so the host community of wildlife really plays a strong role, large role in contributing to what proportion of ticks are infected in a given area.
Dan:
Jean, you spoke earlier about the emergence of ticks along the west coast of Michigan from where they were, say, 20 to 30 years ago. What's the transport mechanism? Is it movements of these ticks on deer? Are the deer transport hosts or do they move on birds or both?
Jean:
Yeah, both. Ticks, again, they can't fly, they crawl a limited distance. All of their dispersal is based on the hosts they feed, so on the backs of furry hosts, scaly hosts, or on the feathers of winged animals. The actual spread up the coast in the manner that it did, which was very gradual and it seemed very much continuous, that suggests to me that most of the spread was probably just by one community of hosts each year just spreading their ticks, moving them up northwards in their normal dispersal patterns. Every animal population, once it has their babies, babies usually have to, as juveniles, disperse somewhat because there aren't enough resources, either food or homes, for that population, so to reduce competition, they usually move.
Jean:
I think just some of that movement, and that could still be some movement for any of these hosts that host the ticks, but certainly perhaps with the deer, then they can move a little further depending on what deer movement is like in that area, but certainly little rodents and such. Sometimes people think about, wow, that distance, probably birds, maybe through migration, they would be spreading. And that's definitely possible, but then we have to think about when birds would pick up ticks and when they would actually be dispersing, would they actually be spreading them in their breeding period when the fledglings are moving, or is it in the fall when they are migrant, and spring when they're migrating, in this case, the spring for moving northwards. But then we need to talk to the ornithologists more to see how much of that migration bringing ticks somewhere, like for instance, the southern US or southwest Michigan, what would be more likely for them to be spreading ticks gradually off the coast?
Jean:
In some ways I think if birds were more involved, it may look more like... Not shotgun, certainly, because birds, they will migrate in certain areas going to riverine ways or other ... They'll have preferred places to go. But if they were actually spreading ticks a lot more, we may see little, I would think bull's eyes or little bombs, maybe, in different areas. And they may be more patchy in how they disperse the ticks as opposed to this gradual, continuous movement off the lakeshore. But having said that, I bet there could be certainly little areas that are receiving ticks from birds. That might be a reason why we see some more of the spread of the blacklegged tick, certainly in some of these other far outlying areas, like the coast of Lake Huron, but yet, not so much in that I-75 corridor from Midland up to the bridge. We don't seem to be seeing as many ticks there, although deer populations, small mammal populations, would be just as abundant there.
Dan:
It isn't just the abundance of the hosts for the tick either.
Jean:
Yeah. And the habitats, so one of the reasons why we think the coast has been good for the ticks as a first initial place was that perhaps they came down and around the lakeshore from Wisconsin through, took them a while to get through Chicago and then Indiana. But once they got here, they had these coastal forests, and researchers have found that perhaps sandy soils might be a very good type of a substrate, it might be very good habitat there.
Rachel:
We've talked a little bit about Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. What are some other dangers that might expose to people?
Megan:
The deer tick or the blacklegged tick can also transmit a disease called anaplasmosis, which has signs that are similar to Lyme disease in humans. And both Lyme disease and anaplasmosis can be transmitted to your family dog as well as to the rest of the members of your family. And in some cases, Lyme disease can also be transmitted to your horses. The blacklegged tick or deer tick can pose that additional danger to the other members of your family. We have another very rare tick that we see sometimes in Michigan called the lone star tick, and a lot of times, this tick is familiar to people because the adult female has this really bright, iridescent white spot on her back and she's absolutely gorgeous. But unfortunately, lone star ticks have been linked to what has been called a meat allergy. There's a compound in the tick's saliva when these ticks bite called alpha-gal that can cause a hypersensitivity reaction or an allergy, and some people who are predisposed to it, that causes them to have an allergic reaction to red meat. And that includes bacon, for all of those who enjoy eating bacon.
Dan:
Not bacon! Anything but that.
Megan:
That's usually the response I get, "Not the bacon!" Unfortunately, these people get bitten by a tick, and then hours later, after they've eaten a meal that consists of some sort of red meat, they'll have this hypersensitivity reaction, and they don't know why. They just wake up in the middle of the night having a severe allergic reaction, and they have to go to the hospital for this. That's something to keep in mind. We haven't seen a lot of instances of the lone star tick in Michigan, and we certainly don't think that it's firmly established in any great numbers in Michigan yet, but we do see handfuls of ticks that are submitted through the tick submission program with the state health department as well as through the Tick App, where we get pictures of ticks sent into us.
Rachel:
What are some types of ways that people could prevent potential tick bites?
Megan:
There are a couple of different strategies that you can use to prevent tick bites. The very first strategy is to just prevent ticks from getting on you in the first place. That includes when you go out into an area that could contain tick habitat, and that changes, depending on the type of tick that you're talking about, we recommend that you wear an EPA-approved tick repellent. This includes DEET, keratin, lemon oil of eucalyptus, those type of products. We usually recommend that the active ingredient in that product is at least 20 percent. That includes most of the mosquito repellents that you find in your local store. We also recommend that you go out in long sleeves and long pants. Now, with the type of weather that we see in Michigan in July and August, that could be really difficult, but we recommend that you tuck your pants into your socks and wear tall boots if you can.
Megan:
In addition, there's a product called permethrin that is not to be used on your skin like DEET or picaridin, but can be used to treat your clothing. And this will actually kill and repel ticks that get onto your clothing as you're walking through tick habitat. Those strategies will help you to repel any ticks that get on you while you're out in tick habitat. We also recommend that while you're in tick habitats, stay on groomed trails. Once you've gone out into the forest, you've come home, and you've done everything that you could to prevent getting ticks on yourself, we recommend that you take a shower within two hours of coming home. Not that you're necessarily going to wash the ticks off, but this will give you an opportunity to do a really thorough tick check on any parts of your body that are protected, they're nice and humid, and you're not going to just brush them off, so we're thinking behind your knees, in the groin area, along the waistband and your armpits, around the bra strap area for women, and then behind your ears and up into your hair.
Dan:
Megan, let's say one of our listeners finds a tick, then is there a correct way that you can remove those ticks? Because there's a lot of stuff out there on the internet, some of which looks pretty sketchy.
Megan:
I know that there's a lot of advice out there that you should cover it with Vaseline or you should burn it off or you should use alcohol on it to suffocate the tick. Don't do any of that. Because there is a threshold of time during which transmission of certain pathogens can happen, you really want to get the ticks off as fast as you possibly can and let them blood feed for as little time as possible. We recommend that you take tweezers, the pointier the tweezers, the better, so we do recommend that you go to the hardware store and get some fine tip tweezers. They're pretty easy to find. And you want to grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible. You don't want to squeeze the tick in the middle of the body because then you're squeezing tick guts into your cut.
Megan:
You want to grasp it as close to the skin as possible. If you get a little of your skin along with the tick, you're just doing a really thorough job. You want to grasp that tick and pull straight up and out. It might take a little bit of force to get the tick out because they do cement themselves into your body, but you just pull that sucker out. You don't have to twist, you don't have to do anything fancy, just pull it out. And then we recommend that you save your tick. Don't flush it down the toilet, don't squish it and put it in the garbage. We recommend that you put it in a Ziploc bag with a moist paper towel or cotton ball, and you can put that in your refrigerator. That way, if you do become sick within, say, a month's time, you can take that tick to your doctor, and that will give them a little bit more of an idea of what illnesses they may be dealing with, since not all ticks transmit the same pathogens. We also recommend that you take a photo of it and send it either to the Tick App or to the Michigan State Health Department's photo submission. And then you can also submit your actual tick if, it's still alive, to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, where they have a tick identification and testing program.
Rachel:
What about ticks getting on your pets? Are there any prevention protocols or anything you can do to help keep your pet safe from ticks?
Megan:
Oh, absolutely.
Jean:
And that's really important because also pets can present a risk to the family for ticks.
Megan:
Yeah. I always recommend that you contact your veterinarian and get a good tick prevention product from them. There are a lot of different products on the market that will also work against fleas as well, and nobody wants those in their house.
Holly:
We've been hearing a lot about this new Tick App. Dr. Porter, would you be able to tell us a little bit more about what it is and what do you hope to learn from it?
Megan:
Absolutely. The Tick App is a mobile health application or app that was designed by researchers at Michigan State University, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Columbia University to identify the behaviors that bring people in contact with ticks. Because we talked earlier that the main way that we have to prevent tickborne disease is by just not contacting ticks in the first place. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of research, especially in the Midwest, to tell us where people are contacting their ticks. The point of the Tick App was to ask people where are they contacting ticks and what are they doing in their everyday lives when they're contacting these ticks to help us identify and narrow down our prevention messages so that we can really target those behaviors and help people to do the best job to avoid ticks in the first place, and then to prevent ever developing a tickborne disease.
Holly:
How can people participate or submit their tick data to the app?
Megan:
The Tick App is available through the Apple App Store as well as through Android app stores as well. And then there's also a website where they can go and find places where they can download the app as well.
Holly:
Okay, great. And we'll be sure to include links in our show notes for folks so they can find it pretty easily. Well, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it. Thank you, Dr. O'Brien, Dr. Tsao, and Dr. Porter. Next, stay tuned because we're going to unzip our mailbag and answer your wildlife questions.
Speaker 1:
Did you know that you can take your hunting and fishing regulations with you wherever you go? Have access to the information you need, when you need it, right on your smartphone. Just visit Michigan.gov/DNRdigests to download the applicable hunting digest before you head out to the woods or the Michigan Fishing Guide before you hit the water. Download the most up to date regulations available today at Michigan.gov/DNRdigests.
Rachel:
Welcome back to Wildtalk. Now, let's dig into the mailbag and answer your questions.
Hannah:
Yes, so I've got a question here. Mark wrote in wondering what they could do to protect snapping turtle eggs from predators. Now, turtle nests and eggs do have a fairly high predation rate, so it's really not unusual to have them get found and eaten by wide variety of predators. And for example, raccoons are common turtle nest predators. Really, the best thing you can do for the eggs is leave them alone and try not to disturb the nest site if possible. The female turtle pick that particular location for the specific soil qualities and features that her eggs will need to survive and hatch. Weather conditions, soil moisture content, and other factors will determine when those eggs may hatch, so it's really hard to know when to expect to see the young turtles. And some species, the hatchlings may overwinter in the nest and emerge in the spring, so it's pretty variable.
Hannah:
And you'll also want to keep in mind that turtles tend to move around a bit when looking for the ideal nesting location, so it's not uncommon for the turtles to start digging in one spot, then abandon that particular site, move several feet, and dig again. They may try several spots before actually depositing the eggs and burying them. You can learn a little bit more about Michigan's turtles by visiting our DNR website and checking out our turtles page, but all in all, the best thing you can do with the turtles' nests and eggs, as with other nests and eggs, is just leave them be and try not to disturb them. All right, Rachel, did you have any mailbag questions for us today?
Rachel:
I do have a question. Elaine contacted us about a raccoon living under their deck and says they have purchased a live trap and want to know what to do with the raccoon once it's been trapped. Now, raccoons may be taken year round using lawful hunting or trapping methods on private property and with landowner permission when they're doing or about to do damage. A license or written permission is not needed, but please check with your local city or township for any ordinances that may prohibit discharging a firearm or trapping activities in your area. Live restraining cage traps must be checked daily statewide, and any animal captured in a trap must be immediately killed or released. You can find regulations pertaining to use of live restraining cage traps under "Can I Use a Live Trap?" on page 30 of the Fur Harvester Digest. And additional fur harvesting regulations and season dates for hunting and trapping raccoons can be found in the Fur Harvester Digest or online at Michigan.gov/trapping. If you'd like assistance in removing a raccoon from your property, you can contact a wildlife damage and nuisance control business. More information on how to find those businesses or how to handle conflicts with wildlife can be found at Michigan.gov/wildlife.
Hannah:
As we zip this segment to a close, remember, if you have questions about wildlife or hunting, you can call 517-284-WILD, or email us at dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov. Your question can be featured on the mailbag.
Speaker 1:
July is wildlife conservation month. For over 100 years, Michigan has been devoted to preserving and protecting our state's natural wonders. The yodel of the loon, the bugle of a bull elk, and the fluttering of the Mitchell's satyr butterfly could have been lost without dedicated conservation efforts. Celebrate the month by sharing your love for Michigan's natural beauty purchasing a hunting or fishing license or donating to the non-game wildlife fund. Let's ensure that our rivers, forests, and wildlife will be enjoyed for generations to come. Learn more at Michigan.gov/wildlife.
Katie:
This is Katie Gervasi with the DNR Law Enforcement Division bringing you conservation officer biweekly reports from the field.
Speaker 11:
Roger that.
Katie:
Conservation Officers Cole van Newston and Probationary Conservation Officer Mark Raffett followed up on a complaint of a Canada goose gosling that was taken from the wild in Luce County. The officers arrived at the residence of an individual who had been posting videos and images of the goose on social media. When the officers arrived at the house, the subject began yelling and swearing at the officers, refusing to provide a name or give up the gosling. The officers were eventually able to confirm that the subjects had taken the baby goose two days earlier. The officers seized the animal and safely returned it to a family of wild geese in the area. A report is being submitted to the Luce County Prosecutor's Office.
Speaker 11:
Roger that. Go ahead.
Katie:
Conservation Officer Paul Fox concluded two separate illegal deer cases that occurred in Presque Isle County. One involved the illegal take of an over limit of bucks, and the other involved the taking of a buck without a license. Combined, the subjects were ordered to pay $4,500 in reimbursement and over $1,000 in fines and cost. Both subjects lost their hunting privileges for three years.
Speaker 11:
Roger that. Go ahead.
Katie:
Conservation Officers Kyle Cherry and Sergeant Mark Depue were checking the anglers in Otsego County when they observed an adult male fishing from shore. As soon as another party member saw the officers, the man handed his pole to a young child who was standing next to him. After a brief discussion, the officers contacted the subject, who admitted to fishing without a license. The officers additionally discovered the subject had three warrants for his arrest. A ticket was issued for fishing without a license and the male subject was arrested on one of the warrants.
Speaker 11:
Roger that. Go ahead.
Katie:
Conservation Officer Adam Boitin responded to a complaint about an individual shooting a goose on a pond behind his house. The caller observed the individual shot the goose with a rifle and left it floating in the water. When interviewed, the suspect told Officer Boitin he was sick and tired of the geese leaving feces all over his back porch. A warrant request will be submitted to the Midland County Prosecutor's Office for taking waterfowl out of season, use of non-toxic shot, and discharging a firearm within the safety zone. To read more conservation officer biweekly reports, go to Michigan.gov/Conservationofficers.
Hannah:
Now is your opportunity to win a Wildtalk Podcast mug. As a thank you to our listeners, we'll be giving away a mug or two every episode.
Rachel:
Our June mug winners are Kim Clarkston and Alex Hopp. You'll want to check your emails, you'll be getting in touch with you soon. They answered the question, what disease impacts North American bats and has caused population declines, especially in species of bats that hibernate in caves and mines? The answer to that question is white nose syndrome.
Hannah:
All right, folks, to be entered into the drawing this month, test your wildlife knowledge and answer our wildlife quiz question. This month's question is a true or false question. True or false, a fish does not add new scales as it grows, but the scales it has increase in size.
Rachel:
You'll want to email your name and answer to us at dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov to be entered for a chance to win a mug. Be sure to include the subject line as "Mug Me" and submit your answers by July 15th. We'll announce winners and the answers on next month's podcast, so be sure to listen in to see if you've won and for the next quiz question.
Hannah:
Good luck. Now back to the show.
Rachel:
Well, folks, that is our July episode. We hope you get out and enjoy Michigan's outdoors. We'll see you back here in August.
Speaker 1:
This has been the Wildtalk Podcast, your monthly podcast airing the first of each month and offering insights into the world of wildlife across the state of Michigan. You can reach the Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 or dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.