A type of tick is draining so much blood from Minnesota's moose that the animals are starving to death. Winter tick populations have exploded along the North Shore as the state's winters and springs have gotten warmer, allowing the parasites to swarm individual moose by the tens of thousands, scientists say.
Some infected moose can't find enough food to replace all the iron, nutrients, heat and blood they lose when the majority of their skin is covered with the engorged, quarter-sized pests.
Minnesota has always been the southern edge of moose range. But the ticks show how hostile the state's habitat has become to the beloved creatures, whose populations seem to be retreating to Canada.
