Safety Matters

Ticks are a risk throughout most of the year, feeding whenever temperatures rise above 4 degrees Celsius. In the summer, however, larvae and nymphs become more active. This, coupled with heavier foliage in wooded areas and spending more time outdoors, mean humans are at an increased risk for contracting Lyme disease. 

“We’ve got 14 different types of ticks in the province, of which three are fairly common — dog ticks, black legged ticks — which we used to call deer ticks — and groundhog ticks, which are very similar to black legged ticks,” said Andrew Hebda, Curator of Zoology with the Nova Scotia Museum in an article by Global News. 

“The ones really to watch out for are the black legged ticks or the deer ticks, because those have the potential of carrying Lyme [disease], if they’re in an area where Lyme is present, then roughly 10 per cent of that species will actually have the disease.”

And, though some areas have less risk than others, blacklegged ticks have been found in all parts of Nova Scotia.