Moose tick infestation with pictures

[zedex]

Hi There. I posted on another site a bunch of pictures i took yesterday of 4 moose bedding areas i came across. I originally thought a moose was trying to give birth by the blood everywhere . But after further investigation by more experienced hunters realize bad tick infestation. I found 2 ticks just smaller than a dime. I tracked the moose for about 1/2 km. The moose bled the whole way . I did not find the moose. Lots of blood, lots of hair,lots of droppings, and the mooses urine was pink. She probably had blood in her urine. Unfortunately no urine pictures.
A bunch of pictures below. Interesting and very sad.:icon_frow
First 2 pics are of ticks. Size 10 boot print as a reference.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1862_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1861_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1860_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1859_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1858_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1857_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1856_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1855_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1854_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1853_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1852_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1851_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1850_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1849_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1848_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1847_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1846_IMG.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b376/zedex/118-1845_IMG.jpg

[bwhnter]

The pink urine probably means that she was dehydrated. I noticed a couple of moose that were eating in my neighbours hay bales had ticks really bad. Not a good sign. In order to get ride of the ticks the moose have to lay in the water long enough to drown the ticks and with the spring thaw still a couple of weeks away up here I am afraid that it is not looking too good for the moose in the area.

[ianwuzhere]

wow- looks pretty bad- dont think that it has too much time left to live before it bleeds out- are the ticks worse on warmer winters, and is the spring pretty bad for them as well? i was readin in the prince george paper a few years ago that it was a warm winter and the CO's found like over 10 dead moose due to ticks- makes me wonder if its getting worse..

[bwhnter]

I think that probably has something to do with it. The winter up here has been really mild.

[jakerazer]

I hate parasites! uggh! I have never seen a tick infestation as bad as the one indicated in your pictures but 2 years ago I took a Cariboo and the meat was loaded with tapeworm cysts, or Taenia krabbei. The meat was full of little tunnels and little white cysts. Yuk! We cut our own meat but once the wife saw those tape worm cysts she would'nt touch the meat.
Apparently the cysts can't harm us but they are not very appetizing. :-(

[MB_Boy]

They are a pest to the animals. I posted this link on Huntshoot, but my Dad is a wildlife biologist whose specialty is Moose. If you scroll down on this link to the "Ghost Moose" it gives some high-level info on the ticks etc.

http://www.moosefoundation.org/Moose_Stories.htm

[3kills]

I hate parasites! uggh! I have never seen a tick infestation as bad as the one indicated in your pictures but 2 years ago I took a Cariboo and the meat was loaded with tapeworm cysts, or Taenia krabbei. The meat was full of little tunnels and little white cysts. Yuk! We cut our own meat but once the wife saw those tape worm cysts she would'nt touch the meat.
Apparently the cysts can't harm us but they are not very appetizing. :-(

u should see some of the stuff that comes out of beef too...some times it makes me not wanna eat beef again....

[PGKris]

The cysts CAN hurt you. The caribou is the secondary life stage of the tapeworm and when the cysts are eaten they morph into the adult tapeworm which does all that nasty stuff to your intestinal tract. Not a pleasant thing to think about. If YOU become infected with a cyst then it really won't do any harm because the cyst has to be ingested by another animal in order to make the jump to a full grown tapeworm (Unlikely in the case of a human). To the cysts, we are dead end hosts. I don't profess to be an expert but I am learning this stuff as we speak for my Fish/Wildlife degree. I would have thrown all that meat away. Nasty nasty stuff. Gah.

[youngfellla]

I think part of the problem is the warm spells we have been getting in late winter, the moose will get ticks but the ponds are still frozen and they can't get into water to get rid of the ticks. If it would stay cold through the winter I don't think the ticks would be such a problem. I have also found a few moose killed by ticks around my property this year. Too bad.:frown:

[3kills]

The cysts CAN hurt you. The caribou is the secondary life stage of the tapeworm and when the cysts are eaten they morph into the adult tapeworm which does all that nasty stuff to your intestinal tract. Not a pleasant thing to think about. If YOU become infected with a cyst then it really won't do any harm because the cyst has to be ingested by another animal in order to make the jump to a full grown tapeworm (Unlikely in the case of a human). To the cysts, we are dead end hosts. I don't profess to be an expert but I am learning this stuff as we speak for my Fish/Wildlife degree. I would have thrown all that meat away. Nasty nasty stuff. Gah.

when ur meat is cooked u kill anything that can harm you...

[jakerazer]

The cysts CAN hurt you. The caribou is the secondary life stage of the tapeworm and when the cysts are eaten they morph into the adult tapeworm which does all that nasty stuff to your intestinal tract. Not a pleasant thing to think about. If YOU become infected with a cyst then it really won't do any harm because the cyst has to be ingested by another animal in order to make the jump to a full grown tapeworm (Unlikely in the case of a human). To the cysts, we are dead end hosts. I don't profess to be an expert but I am learning this stuff as we speak for my Fish/Wildlife degree. I would have thrown all that meat away. Nasty nasty stuff. Gah.

Hey PGKris
I would'nt mind losing a few pounds.....
Think the tape worms might help:grin:

When i said they won't hurt you, I should have clarified cooking will make the meat safe to consume. Apparently anywhere there are a lot of large predators like grizzlies and wolves you will find many grazeing animals with this infection. They pick it up from the predator crap [the other end of the life cycle].

[PGKris]

Even if it was cooked black I still wouldn't eat it. Nasty. The ungulates can also pick up the disease from themselves. Caribou are herd animals. Lots of animals together = easily spread diseases. Nasty nasty nasty.

[Husky7mm]

when ur meat is cooked u kill anything that can harm you... I like my steak medium rare, so far so good.:)

[3kills]

Even if it was cooked black I still wouldn't eat it. Nasty. The ungulates can also pick up the disease from themselves. Caribou are herd animals. Lots of animals together = easily spread diseases. Nasty nasty nasty.

do u eat beef at all??? i bet u eat it more often then u know....

husky meduim rare is still cooked....

[PGKris]

3kills........I don't want to know ;) I'm sure all animals are infected but what the hell, I'm not cutting out beef.

[Jimbo]

my last moose, (from the Cariboo) had small white cysts in the meat. Had

[Jimbo]

had pop to

[Jimbo]

Sorry. Had to pop them out while slicing the roasts and put on some extra gravy.