Case of tick paralysis found on Sunshine Coast
Hikers attempt to save snowshoe hare with engorged ticks
Christine Wood/Glacier Media / Squamish Chief [newspaper]
November 5, 2014 01:49 PM
The first case of tick paralysis ever recorded in a wild animal was identified on the Sunshine Coast recently with the help of the Gibsons Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.
Hikers on a trail near Burnett Road in March found a snowshoe hare seemingly paralyzed from the waist down. The rabbit was brought to the centre, where Clint and Irene Davy examined it and found engorged ticks feeding on the animal’s neck.
The ticks were removed and the animal was placed in a kennel and allowed to rest, but it soon stopped breathing and died.
….. “In addition to tick paralysis, Lyme disease has been found in ticks on the Sunshine Coast and Sea to Sky Corridor. Squamish’s late Dr. LaVerne Kindree was a pioneer in the research of ticks that carried Lyme disease in B.C. Between 1989 and 1994 Dr. Kindree was part of a study that confirmed the existence of Lyme disease in B.C. That forced the provincial health authorities to acknowledge that the disease was in B.C., which in turn made it easier and more common for doctors to test and treat patients.”