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Woman crusading against deer-tick infested wildlife
By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau
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LUNENBURG — Tears flowed down Susan Pratt’s face when she was a little girl sitting in Lunenburg’s old opera house and watching a forest fire ravage Bambi’s home. Today, 65 years after that Disney movie was released, it’s more like tears of frustration Ms. Pratt sheds as she watches deer invading her neighbourhood.
She fears they’ll bring Lyme disease into Lunenburg from surrounding areas where deer ticks infected with the disease have been found.
She’s also upset that the food set out to attract those deer is creating a rat problem around her Green Street home. She’s even borrowed a trap and has it set by her front step.
"I don’t even want to set the damn thing," but the sight of the long-tailed rodents scurrying across her street has persuaded her to place seed and peanut butter in the small, rectangular cage a few times. So far, whatever has taken the food has gotten away scot-free.
"But my biggest concern is the complacency we see about Lyme disease," Ms. Pratt said. "I think it’s got the potential in this area of the province of becoming a serious public health issue."
She went before Lunenburg town council Thursday evening to ask it to introduce a bylaw forbidding people from feeding wildlife.
"If infected deer ticks aren’t in town, they will come in to the town," she said in an interview. "The thing I want to do is at least try to diminish it in town."
The Natural Resources Department has been testing deer across the province for infected ticks and sending the ticks away for analysis at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg.
Infected ticks have been found in the Lunenburg area and the Admiral Cove Park area of Bedford. They were also discovered last year in Mersey Point, Queens County, and in Antigonish, but they have not been found there since.
"This is a real concern and we have made a genuine effort on our part to look at it," said Lunenburg’s mayor, Laurence Mawhinney. The town has taken a preliminary look at enacting a bylaw like the one proposed by Ms. Pratt and is talking with other municipalities and the province to see how it would work.
Dr. Richard Gould, medical officer of health for southwestern Nova Scotia, said there have been eight confirmed cases of Lyme disease reported in Nova Scotia since 2002, but he expects that number to go up this year.
"We see a couple of cases every year. Lyme disease is established certainly in Lunenburg and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more cases this year."
Lyme disease typically causes fever, fatigue and headaches but can lead to more serious illnesses like facial palsy and heart or joint problems.
Dr. Gould said it’s difficult to know whether reducing the deer population will affect the spread of Lyme disease, because many infections are caused by small mammals, such as deer mice. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta recommends people keep deer away from their properties by putting up fences, planting deer-resistant plants and not feeding the animals.
This issue is important to Ms. Pratt, she said, because both her late husband John and their dog Rusty contracted Lyme disease when the family lived in Connecticut.
"My husband, he was always after every one of us to inspect ourselves (for ticks) when we came in. He had a passion for gardening and he got a tick on the small of his back and couldn’t even see it."
Ms. Pratt said her husband was one of a minority of those infected who developed the tell-tale bull’s-eye rash around the tick bite. He was quickly treated with antibiotics and recovered.
Rusty’s diagnosis took longer.
"He was so arthritic and it came on quite quickly. He couldn’t stand, couldn’t sit, couldn’t lie down or get up without yelping," but once diagnosed with Lyme disease he too was treated successfully with antibiotics.
Two dogs in Cape Breton recently tested positive for Lyme disease and veterinarians in metro Halifax and the South Shore have strongly recommended testing and preventive treatment.
As for the rats, Lunenburg has hired an exterminator and the mayor said the area where Ms. Pratt lives has "a small rat problem."
Mr. Mawhinney, who plays the clarinet, said there is no need to bring in the Pied Piper.
"Rats have been with us as long as we’ve been a seaport," and while there aren’t very many of them causing a problem, they are in an area of town where they’re not usually found.
The rodent exterminator dug holes and set bait at one home and will do a followup application.
( bware@herald.ca)
’My biggest concern is the complacency we see about Lyme disease. I think it’s got the potential in this area of the province of becoming a serious public health issue.’
By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau
ADVERTISEMENT
LUNENBURG — Tears flowed down Susan Pratt’s face when she was a little girl sitting in Lunenburg’s old opera house and watching a forest fire ravage Bambi’s home. Today, 65 years after that Disney movie was released, it’s more like tears of frustration Ms. Pratt sheds as she watches deer invading her neighbourhood.
She fears they’ll bring Lyme disease into Lunenburg from surrounding areas where deer ticks infected with the disease have been found.
She’s also upset that the food set out to attract those deer is creating a rat problem around her Green Street home. She’s even borrowed a trap and has it set by her front step.
"I don’t even want to set the damn thing," but the sight of the long-tailed rodents scurrying across her street has persuaded her to place seed and peanut butter in the small, rectangular cage a few times. So far, whatever has taken the food has gotten away scot-free.
"But my biggest concern is the complacency we see about Lyme disease," Ms. Pratt said. "I think it’s got the potential in this area of the province of becoming a serious public health issue."
She went before Lunenburg town council Thursday evening to ask it to introduce a bylaw forbidding people from feeding wildlife.
"If infected deer ticks aren’t in town, they will come in to the town," she said in an interview. "The thing I want to do is at least try to diminish it in town."
The Natural Resources Department has been testing deer across the province for infected ticks and sending the ticks away for analysis at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg.
Infected ticks have been found in the Lunenburg area and the Admiral Cove Park area of Bedford. They were also discovered last year in Mersey Point, Queens County, and in Antigonish, but they have not been found there since.
"This is a real concern and we have made a genuine effort on our part to look at it," said Lunenburg’s mayor, Laurence Mawhinney. The town has taken a preliminary look at enacting a bylaw like the one proposed by Ms. Pratt and is talking with other municipalities and the province to see how it would work.
Dr. Richard Gould, medical officer of health for southwestern Nova Scotia, said there have been eight confirmed cases of Lyme disease reported in Nova Scotia since 2002, but he expects that number to go up this year.
"We see a couple of cases every year. Lyme disease is established certainly in Lunenburg and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more cases this year."
Lyme disease typically causes fever, fatigue and headaches but can lead to more serious illnesses like facial palsy and heart or joint problems.
Dr. Gould said it’s difficult to know whether reducing the deer population will affect the spread of Lyme disease, because many infections are caused by small mammals, such as deer mice. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta recommends people keep deer away from their properties by putting up fences, planting deer-resistant plants and not feeding the animals.
This issue is important to Ms. Pratt, she said, because both her late husband John and their dog Rusty contracted Lyme disease when the family lived in Connecticut.
"My husband, he was always after every one of us to inspect ourselves (for ticks) when we came in. He had a passion for gardening and he got a tick on the small of his back and couldn’t even see it."
Ms. Pratt said her husband was one of a minority of those infected who developed the tell-tale bull’s-eye rash around the tick bite. He was quickly treated with antibiotics and recovered.
Rusty’s diagnosis took longer.
"He was so arthritic and it came on quite quickly. He couldn’t stand, couldn’t sit, couldn’t lie down or get up without yelping," but once diagnosed with Lyme disease he too was treated successfully with antibiotics.
Two dogs in Cape Breton recently tested positive for Lyme disease and veterinarians in metro Halifax and the South Shore have strongly recommended testing and preventive treatment.
As for the rats, Lunenburg has hired an exterminator and the mayor said the area where Ms. Pratt lives has "a small rat problem."
Mr. Mawhinney, who plays the clarinet, said there is no need to bring in the Pied Piper.
"Rats have been with us as long as we’ve been a seaport," and while there aren’t very many of them causing a problem, they are in an area of town where they’re not usually found.
The rodent exterminator dug holes and set bait at one home and will do a followup application.
( bware@herald.ca)
’My biggest concern is the complacency we see about Lyme disease. I think it’s got the potential in this area of the province of becoming a serious public health issue.’
