05/29/2025
Please ensure your dogs and cats are on flea and tick prevention before you head outside to play this spring!
Black-legged tick confirmed in two Montana counties!
This spring, Montana joined the growing list of states that host the black-legged tick, also called the deer tick and best known for carrying Lyme disease.
The tick first turned up in Dawson County in eastern Montana on a hunter's dog. Then, another was detected by crews conducting active tick surveillance in northeastern Montana's Sheridan County, including the town of Plentywood. About the size of a sesame seed, black-legged ticks are notoriously hard to spot due to their tiny size.
Up until now, ticks in Montana were not known to carry Lyme disease, but public health officials worry that may soon change. "We can have a situation where these are what I call just one-off ticks, meaning they maybe were flown in on a bird from another state, landed, and couldn't survive here long term, or we could have a population of ticks actively reproducing and currently present that would then introduce that greater risk," says Devon Cozart, an epidemiologist with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services
Right now, all that is certain is that the risk of encountering a black-legged tick may be higher in Dawson and Sheridan counties. Cozart says current research indicates ticks must be attached to a person for at least 24 hours before they can transmit Lyme disease, which makes it all that more important to check yourself for ticks if you've been outdoors.
Are you itching for more? Check out FWP's Tick Tips! https://fwp.mt.gov/homepage/news/2025/may/0521-tick-tips%E2%80%AF
📸 credit - Tom Schwan
