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NJ Officials Trying To Eradicate East Asian Tick

Longhorned tick

An exotic East Asian tick that was not believed to exist in the United States until it was found in a pasture in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, in November has survived the winter.

And officials are now trying to wipe it out.

Manoel Tamassia is the director of the New Jersey Agriculture Department’s Division of Animal Health. He says the Longhorned tick is known to transmit diseases in East Asia, but no disease has been detected in the ones found in the state.

“I don’t see this as a threat to the human population because so far we seem to have it located in a confined area. We’ll try to eradicate it from there.”

If the tick is detected again after pesticides are applied to the pasture, Tamassia says it’ll continue to be treated until they’re gone.

“We are also monitoring outside of this pasture to see how far out it might have migrated on wild animal species. But so far we have not found it on wild animals around the farm.”

Just how that tick came to be in New Jersey is a mystery.