Mv Tick Program News Today

The Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society’s Community Deer Cooler, maintained to reduce the Island’s deer population, stored a record 90 deer this year.  The program has been in place since 2019, and the 90 deer is up from 79 in 2022. Brian Athearn, a manager at MV Hunt Club, credits the good 2023 season in part […]

Martha’s Vineyard has a non-migratory Canada geese problem.  Farmers say that flocks can destroy newly planted crops in a short period of time; the birds can also yank up fresh, native vegetation by the roots; athletes and golf clubs complain about the geese droppings dotting their fields; homeowners deal with the geese littering their yards. […]

Every spring on the Martha’s Vineyard, Islanders seem to say: “It’s the worst tick season there’s ever been.” But are the ticks actually worse this year?  Patrick Roden-Reynolds, of the MV Tick Program, couldn’t definitively say if there are truly more ticks in 2023 compared to other years, but he has seen a dramatic increase […]

Cases of babesiosis, a rare tick-borne disease, are on the rise throughout the Northeast, according to a recent study and report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Pronounced ‘ba-bee-zee-oh-ses,” the infection is spread by bites from deer ticks, also known as black-legged ticks. The ticks can transmit microscopic parasite babesia microti, which can […]

The Martha’s Vineyard Tick Program is calling the alpha-gal syndrome their “biggest concern” for the second year in a row. They say the population of lone star ticks is outpacing other species in certain areas of the Island. Transmitted by the lone star tick, the incurable illness gives subjects an allergy to red meat, gelatin, […]