Darwin Dog Owners; Give Up Your Ticks!

[Boronia]

Posting this here rather than the 'News' forum as more DOLers will see it

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-10/research-company-calls-out-for-12000-ticks-top-end/7918028

Wanted: NSW researchers need 12,000 specimens from 'brown dog tick capital of Australia'

105.7 ABC Darwin Posted about 3 hours ago

Photo: This dog infested with brown dog ticks in the Kimberly was treated by a remote vet shortly afterwards. (Supplied: The Ark Animal Hospital) Related Story: 'Dab, don't grab' and 'freeze, don't squeeze' as tick season kicks off A research company's call-out for Top End ticks at 50 cents a pop has spawned side projects offering to collect the blood-sucking parasites in return for beer and free pest control.

New South Wales-based company VetX has for several years collected ticks from across the country for its veterinary research projects.

"We're looking for better treatments to kill ticks and take care of dogs," Andy Muller from VetX said.

The company is targeting Darwin residents and businesses that might want to search, scrape and send off brown dog ticks to them in the post.

"Darwin is the brown dog tick capital of Australia," Mr Muller said.

"It's to do with the climate. The dog ticks do really like the warm and humid weather. It's also about having a lot of dogs in the suburban setting.

"That's why we've targeted Darwin as the main place to collect the ticks.

"We see them in northern Australia and the east coast as well, but Darwin is definitely the hot spot. Put it on the souvenir postcard."

Ticks in take-away containers

Mr Muller said previous call-outs for ticks had seen 15,000 sent in, with the company looking for at least 12,000 this time round.

Unfortunately, the ticks cannot be grabbed off dogs, as ticks that have gorged already on an animal cannot feed again.

"They need to be live and un-engorged. So what I'm looking for is the places that are heavily infested," Mr Muller said.

"You get some places that might have 10 ticks climbing up under the furniture or windowsill, but we really want the places where they're climbing up the walls.

"A thousand ticks in a few square metres. We want people ultimately who've got more than 400 or 500 at a time to make it viable."

But how then do you get those ticks to the researchers in northern NSW?

"Get a dustpan and broom and sweep them off the side of the walls or between crevices," Mr Muller said.

Collectors are then advised to pop the ticks in a take-away container, punch a few holes in the top, wrap it in an old stocking and send it off in registered post or with a courier.

"Once you do the collection, you'd want to send them within a few days. They won't die in post as long as you keep them cool," Mr Muller said.

Tick call-out spawns entrepreneurial ideas

With the company paying 50 cents, plus postage, for each tick received alive, the strange assignment could "be very lucrative", Mr Muller said.

Photo: A post on the page Darwin Beer Economy calling out for people to donate their ticks in exchange for beer and free pest control. (Facebook)

Mr Muller said he would also travel in Darwin in early December to do some collecting himself, with the reward of 50 cents a tick still on offer then.

Those who cannot wait that long, though, might just settle for a six-pack of beer and some free pest control.

Popping up on the social media site Darwin Beer Economy last week, one entrepreneur offered to come collect ticks from people's houses as part of a third-party collection for VetX.

"Please only contact if you have a massive issue," the post by a local pest control company read.

"No ticks, no beer, no spray."