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The C.A.S.H. Courier

ARTICLE from the Fall 2009 Issue

Lyme Disease Abatement - A Lame Excuse To Hunt

In another blatant example of "public" or government agencies putting out misleading information, the Connecticut EPA, together with the Fairfield County Municipal Deer Management Alliance and the Connecticut Coalition to Eradicate Lyme Disease, have tried to foist a fiction about Lyme disease on an unwary public.

State Senator David Cappiello stated that killing deer will "curb Lyme disease." The public should understand that he is misinformed by the above agencies.

These organizations are "extremists" pretending that killing deer will eliminate Lyme disease. They ignore recent scientific studies demonstrating that there is no relationship between an increase in Lyme disease and an overpopulation of deer. In fact, it's just the opposite.

The Penn State Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics con­cluded that keeping deer out of areas leads to an increase in tick population. And the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies found that forest fragmenta­tion decreased mammalian biodiver­sity and resulted in areas of very high mouse density (the carriers of the Lyme bacteria).

Poor land-use practices, not deer overpopulation, results in a greater human risk of exposure to Lyme disease infected ticks. Deer-exclusion fencing, decimation of suburban woodlands, and failure to use bait boxes for mice are responsible for the growth of Lyme disease, not an over­abundance of deer.

We thank Mike Gorfinkle of Redding for this information. Mike said, "I urge Mr. Cappiello to heed scientific facts, not the self-interests of groups looking to increase hunting opportunities. State legislators should be advocating and enacting enlightened Lyme disease abatement solutions based on real science, and not supporting the unsophisticated and ineffective practice of killing deer to combat Lyme disease."

More info at: http ://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060830214714.htm.

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