Posted on 09/18/2007 3:05:38 PM PDT by neverdem
In Warren Township, fearless deer stride across front lawns to nibble on grass and shrubs. They waltz up to front porches of million-dollar homes to sample the potted plants. Sometimes only repeated blasts of the car horn will clear the driveway.
Along with these four-legged symbols of bucolic suburban life comes a dreaded illness: Lyme disease. In some cases, entire families are being diagnosed with tick-borne ailments, and residents are demanding that their towns and counties do something. In many towns, Lyme disease is becoming not just a medical issue but a potent political one.
About 20 neighbors in a section of Warren near Route 78 joined together to pressure local officials at a recent town council meeting. They called for the town to reduce the deer population -- since ticks feast on the large mammals -- and to protect children who play on tick-infested town parks or school fields. They want the state and county to step in, too.
"Lyme disease is one of the biggest diseases in suburbia," said Brian Oakes, a financial trader who is one of the Warren neighbors. "But there is no focus on this on the state or county level. They don't even test the soccer fields where our kids play. Are our children at risk playing soccer?"
Lyme activism is not new. But the latest burst is coming on the municipal level as some neighborhoods discover the prevalence of the disease and people complain of joint pain, debilitating fatigue and mental confusion associated with it.
In Warren, the buzz started at bus stops, nursery schools, neighborhood functions, even bar mitzvahs.
"You find out that people aren't feeling well, especially some of the young mothers," said Debbie Floyd, a homemaker in Warren with two children. "They have odd symptoms, like fibromyalgia," a poorly understood...
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
PETA must be thrilled.
micro ping
I get this every other year........know the signs in early stage but soon the anti bios i take will be useless.......lets treat the dear
DDT for the ticks, and the modern compound bow for the deer.
"ticks are the most dangerous animals in Missouri"
He was speaking of Lymne and the other serious diseases that ticks can pass on to humans.
I need to get off the computer and give my eyes a break.
For a moment I thought 'thrilled' was something else.
It sure would be nice if the person posting would put the state in the title so the rest of us would know where this is occurring. Time and time again I see stories and I have no idea what state is involved.
I don't bow hunt myself, but I sure appreciate those who do. We invite some bowhunters to help reduce the deer population on our land. The season started last weekend and they got two already.
I live with the deer, too---they're always out there grazing on our grass, and they are very plentiful in our small town. I have not even heard of a whisper of Lymme's disease around here. Our deer are small whitetails, if that makes any difference.
For the record it's New Jersey.
I wonder when this will spread to Smoke Rise? Maybe those wonderful and wealthy liberals in Kinnelon will take a new view of deer hunting when they literally have to choose between the deer and themselves. Hell, even the New York Times wrote an editorial in favor of deer hunting when they realized the deer were eating their shrubbery and bashing up their Range Rovers in Nassau and Westchester Counties.
My husband recently had Ehrlichiosis. I had never even heard of it before. It is caused by a tick-borne bacterium. I haven't seen him that sick in 30 years. His white cell count was so low they were afraid to put him in the hospital (where all the nasty germs are).
Deer ticks are readily noticable when they bite. They are continuously painful. One attached tick 1/2 mm in size can feel like one was struck hard with a splintered 2x4. In the least case, it feels like a stick with a rusty nail, that's being twisted. The lesion for the disease is unique and always noticable. That's the clue that penicillin should be given to prevent any long term effects.
sounds like it’s time to get a crossbow/nightvision combo to send
a message to the deer!
One of the problems of animal-rights fascism. We have too many animals roaming around.
As far as ticks are concerned I treat my lawn with diatomacious earth and nematodes. As well as a dose of insecticide when I feel it is needed.
Fixed it.
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