Tick and disease warning sign
This was a very informative sign that certainly looks rather new that I saw recently here in Western New York. Please have a wonderful weekend outdoors and enjoy the gorgeous weather but always keep your family’s safety in mind – including those furry children, too. Without proper habitat management practices and the continuation of the degradation of our ecosystems signs like these will need to be all the more common as we create more edges, lose predators and spread invasive plants, permitting or even favoring environmental conditions that harbor ticks and foster their...
Read MoreLyme Disease bullseye rash
Recognize this? If you ever have a “bug bite” that feels warm to the touch and seems for all the world to be like a mosquito bit you…except that it doesn’t itch or feel painful…you should watch it very carefully and be ready to head to the doctor. This is the beginning of the classic Lyme Disease bullseye rash from the bite of a Deer/Eastern Black-legged Tick. The rash will continue to expand and in my case it ended up spanning my entire thigh. You’re lucky if you have a rash as many people do not get one. Twan and I have both had Lyme Disease when living...
Read More“Fight a Bite!”
Below is the Chautauqua County “Fight A Bite!” brochure created by the Chautauqua County Department of Health & Human Services Environmental Health Division to educate the local public about reducing our risks of mosquito or tick bites that can lead to serious illness. You can also open the full-size PDF version by clicking here and save it if you like. The brochure provides information on ticks and mosquitoes, repellents and how to use them, tick removal techniques and general safety information. I recommend reading over it if you live anywhere in the Northeast as it...
Read MoreMange, poisons and wildlife
Early yesterday afternoon I posted an article on our Facebook page titled, “Household rat poison linked to death and disease in wildlife” from the Los Angeles Times. It discussed the following: The mountain lion known as P-22 looked majestic just a few months ago, in a trail-camera photo shot against the backdrop of the Hollywood sign. But when a remote camera in Griffith Park captured an image of the puma more recently, it showed a thinner and mangy animal. Scientists sedated him and drew blood samples. They found evidence of exposure to rat poisons. Now, researchers say they...
Read MoreEcological catastrophes: what’s here, what’s next?
For my first blog post of 2014 I wanted to talk about something I ponder frequently in this line of work – apart from the ongoing environmental disasters we acknowledge and in some cases are working to correct, what silent or invisible calamities are occurring right now that we should be detecting, analyzing and stopping? Climate change is the number one global nightmare that is finally being accepted by the average person, something that is long overdue. However, we are nowhere near addressing it and it may already be too late in many regards. Smaller scale disasters like the spread of...
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