To the Editor:
I’m so grateful to Kate Warner’s letter in last week’s paper for bringing up the ecological concern over tick spraying (I question deer and goose spray also). Many businesses have sprung up around this newish service, and I too am worried about the repercussions of this smothering tactic in the natural world. I have noticed many fewer insects, and so birds, in my Vineyard Haven yard, and on the lane in Chilmark I visit in the summer. There, on that lane, only two of the nine properties do NOT spray for ticks, and what a lifeless area it has become, so close to sea and pond. It’s shocking and frightening.
I get advertisements often to spray “safe and organic” stuff on my property to keep ticks away. But here’s the thing: “Safe and organic” doesn’t mean anything good and conscientious and right for the world if not used properly. Last year I had more honeybees in my wildish, overgrown garden than I had ever seen. Seemed like hundreds. I felt such relief and shy hope for the wild world. My neighbor contacted a large reputable local company to spray her trees for worms. “Safe and organic” spinosad they used. Within hours, every single honeybee was gone — dead. I called the owner of that company and told him how irresponsible he was spraying spinosad or neem — so much of that safe, organic stuff during the day — when it should be used in the evenings, AFTER bees and other insects have put in for the night. I have counted up to seven honeybees this year, none so far in August.
When the tanker trucks to repel ticks first rolled into neighborhoods, and the spray flew and the stink rose, the miasma of fear took hold in me. What is this stuff? Who is regulating its use? What does it really do? That was years ago. More and more trucks keep rolling in and spraying on.
We are in dangerous territory smothering the Earth with sprays, hoping to kill or retard ticks and not realizing the consequences of such actions in the wider world of life.
I know ticks are a huge problem. Dressing appropriately, spraying oneself and one’s pets responsibly, and de-ticking regularly is necessary. I just don’t think smothering the Earth is the solution.
Our Earth is tough but fragile.
Susan Jones
Vineyard Haven