Skin crawling surprise: Alberta woman says camping trip was ruined by dozens of ticks

A Calgary woman says a trip to a provincial campground turned into "a nightmare," after finding out her family was covered in about 30 ticks. 

In May, Gerri Kunneke, her husband Lloyd Rose, and their two dogs visited Gooseberry Lake Provincial Park in eastern Alberta near Consort, about 290 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, to camp in their trailer. 

The next day, Kunneke and her husband took their dogs for a walk around the park. 

"We decided that we actually wanted to … get closer to the lake and just see what shore birds [were] there," said Kunneke. 

She said they walked off the path, into tall grass, but said they were only in the brush for a few minutes. 

Later that night, back at their trailer, Kunneke's husband told her he felt something in his hair, and asked her to take a look for him. 

"I got up, [and] as I got near him, he said to me, 'Oh my, you've got something in your face, it's a tick' … on my cheek,'" said Kunneke. 

And that feeling in her husband's hair? It was also a tick. 

"It's truly a nightmare … every time you feel something on your skin, you think it's another one of them crawling," said Kunneke. 

"Even hours later I found something on my back and lo and behold, it was another tick that was embedded in my back." 

The incident at the provincial park surprised a tick expert, who says that area of Alberta isn't typically known for large tick populations.

"Usually at this time of year, I would expect ticks to be on the … mountain side of Alberta, so it was really quite shocking to me to discover that in a provincial park on the Saskatchewan side of Alberta that the ticks were that bad," said Janet Sperling, president of Lyme Disease Canada. 

"There are places in Saskatchewan where it's been a problem for quite some time, but … it was really surprising to hear that Gooseberry Provincial Park had such a big tick problem." 

In a statement to CBC, the office of the Minister of Forestry and Parks said "Alberta is home to many species of ticks that can be found all across the province, including within provincial parks." 

Conditions where ticks thrive 

Ticks in the prairies, Sperling says, thrive in wet climates, and the parasites are able to survive cold winters. 

She says the tick population likely got to Gooseberry Lake Provincial Park either by hitching a ride with migratory birds, or deer. 

"I knew the ticks were coming in from Saskatchewan, but I hadn't realized they had arrived in quite such numbers," said Sperling, who says that large tick populations are more common in southern Alberta. 

Warning to campers 

After what happened at Gooseberry Lake Provincial Park, Kunneke wants the province to install warning signs for campers during peak tick season, which stretches from April to June. 

"It shakes your confidence, it's like, why was I not warned about this? … I could have been on the lookout, but no one is saying a word about it," said Kunneke.

"[A tick] was walking on my face and he attached himself there, I felt nothing and I'm a well-educated, aware person." 

Sperling says campers should be armed with bug spray and a tick removal kit, and they should remain covered up. She says campers can further protect themselves with special clothing treated with bug spray. 

"If you do get bitten, remove that tick right away because you're reducing the chance it's actually transmitting anything." 

She says to keep the tick that burrows into your skin, and take it to a lab to be tested.

"They can test for the diseases that you would expect in that tick, and it really helps to sort of guide you and the doctor to know what you're up against."

Sperling says that levels of Lyme disease in Alberta ticks aren't super high, but in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec, over 50 per cent of ticks carry Lyme disease. 

The province says that "Alberta Parks includes messaging in educational programming, reminding campers to check for ticks and how to be safe," urging campers to check the provincial website to find out more information.