A remedy in sight for moose ticks?

by Tena Starr

A UVM entomologist has combined her work with her passion for the outdoors and come up with an idea for controlling winter ticks — the ticks that are savaging Vermont’s moose. 

Cheryl Sullivan, a Ph.D student in UVM’s Entomology Research Lab, is working with faculty members to research natural fungi that can kill the tick, which, according to University of New Hampshire researchers, is the primary cause of the unprecedented 70 percent death rate among moose calves in northern New England over a three-year period, 2014 to 2016.   Although ticks are not a new problem, they are relatively new to Vermont, especially northern Vermont.  As weather gets warmer and wetter, ticks have headed north and are now decimating Vermont’s moose population. 

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