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

Stephanie Cram · CBC News

· Posted: May 31, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: May 31

A Calgary pistillate says a travel to a provincial campground turned into "a nightmare," aft uncovering retired her household was covered successful astir 30 ticks. 

In May, Gerri Kunneke, her hubby Lloyd Rose, and their 2 dogs visited Gooseberry Lake Provincial Park successful eastbound Alberta near Consort, about 290 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, to campy successful their trailer. 

The adjacent day, Kunneke and her hubby took their dogs for a locomotion astir the park. 

"We decided that we really wanted to … get person to the water and conscionable spot what enactment birds [were] there," said Kunneke. 

She said they walked disconnected the path, into gangly grass, but said they were lone successful the brushwood for a fewer minutes. 

Later that night, backmost astatine their trailer, Kunneke's hubby told her helium felt thing successful his hair, and asked her to instrumentality a look for him. 

"I got up, [and] arsenic I got adjacent him, helium said to me, 'Oh my, you've got thing successful your face, it's a tick' … connected my cheek,'" said Kunneke. 

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

"It's genuinely a nightmare … each clip you consciousness thing connected your skin, you deliberation it's different 1 of them crawling," said Kunneke. 

"Even hours aboriginal I recovered thing connected my backmost and lo and behold, it was different tick that was embedded successful my back." 

The incidental astatine the provincial parkland amazed a tick expert, who says that country of Alberta isn't typically known for ample tick populations.

"Usually astatine this clip of year, I would expect ticks to beryllium connected the … upland broadside of Alberta, truthful it was truly rather shocking to maine to observe that successful a provincial parkland connected the Saskatchewan broadside of Alberta that the ticks were that bad," said Janet Sperling, president of Lyme Disease Canada. 

"There are places successful Saskatchewan wherever it's been a occupation for rather immoderate time, but … it was truly astonishing to perceive that Gooseberry Provincial Park had specified a large tick problem." 

In a connection to CBC, the bureau of the Minister of Forestry and Parks said "Alberta is location to galore taxon of ticks that tin beryllium recovered each crossed the province, including wrong provincial parks." 

Conditions wherever ticks thrive 

Ticks successful the prairies, Sperling says, thrive successful bedewed climates, and the parasites are capable to past acold winters. 

She says the tick colonisation apt got to Gooseberry Lake Provincial Park either by hitching a thrust with migratory birds, oregon deer. 

"I knew the ticks were coming successful from Saskatchewan, but I hadn't realized they had arrived successful rather specified numbers," said Sperling, who says that ample tick populations are much communal successful confederate Alberta. 

Warning to campers 

After what happened astatine Gooseberry Lake Provincial Park, Kunneke wants the state to instal informing signs for campers during highest tick season, which stretches from April to June. 

"It shakes your confidence, it's like, wherefore was I not warned astir this? … I could person been connected the lookout, but nary 1 is saying a connection astir it," said Kunneke.

"[A tick] was walking connected my look and helium attached himself there, I felt thing and I'm a well-educated, alert person." 

Sperling says campers should beryllium equipped with bug spray and a tick removal kit, and they should stay covered up. She says campers tin further support themselves with peculiar covering treated with bug spray. 

"If you bash get bitten, region that tick close distant due to the fact that you're reducing the accidental it's really transmitting anything." 

She says to support the tick that burrows into your skin, and instrumentality it to a laboratory to beryllium tested.

"They tin trial for the diseases that you would expect successful that tick, and it truly helps to benignant of usher you and the doc to cognize what you're up against."

Sperling says that levels of Lyme illness successful Alberta ticks aren't ace high, but successful Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec, implicit 50 per cent of ticks transportation Lyme disease. 

The state says that "Alberta Parks includes messaging successful acquisition programming, reminding campers to cheque for ticks and however to beryllium safe," urging campers to cheque the provincial website to find retired much information.