“An initial review of the data showed that moose observed in 2016 showed a greater amount of hair loss overall compared to 2015,” MNRF Regional Outreach Specialist Karen Passmore said. “Data collected from the roadside surveys will be used in conjunction with aerial moose hair loss survey data to identify trends and factors regarding the effects of winter ticks over time and to help understand the moose population decline in order to work towards a solution and develop a baseline data set to help manage the population into the future.”
Winter ticks are a native species found across most of Ontario. Each adult female tick can lay up to 5,000 eggs in June, which hatch in late summer to early fall. They latch onto moose, and tick larvae bury themselves deep into the moose’s fur, next to the skin to take blood meals. The tick larvae then moult into nymphs around November, and moult into the adult stage in late winter. In late winter and early spring, adult female ticks become engorged with blood from the moose. It is during this time that moose can be severely stressed as populations of ticks can be high (50,000 to 100,000 ticks per moose). This can lead to mortalities, particularly in heavily infected calves. Moose will rub, chew, scratch and lick themselves raw to their skin trying to get rid of the ticks.
The ministry is currently investigating various causes of the moose population decline across Ontario. The moose roadside hair loss survey in WMU 28 is contributing to these efforts. Data collected from these surveys will be analyzed and compared to recent aerial moose hair loss surveys that were conducted by MNRF in late March. As data is collected over multiple years, trends and factors may become apparent and help us understand the population decline in order to work towards solutions.
“There can be all kinds of reasons for a decline in numbers,” England said. “We know ticks do have an effect on the moose, but to what extent, we don’t know yet. Time will tell. It is important to this area to find out if there is a decline or not. There are a lot of moose here, with them being hit by cars or trains. Those moose are coming from somewhere. It can be hard to get a good count of moose from an air survey as well because a lot of variables are involved that could have moose deep in the bush and not seen. We are doing what we can to help. We want people back here hunting. It is a way of life.”