Those in Canada and northern US: see new heartworm map For those who want to know where fire ants are in the U.S.: http://fireant.ifas.ufl.edu/maps.htm http://fireant.ifas.ufl.edu/2001.htm More recent: <http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/plant_pest_info/fireants/downloads/fireant.pdf> http://www.extension.org/faq/4664 which includes: >To date, fire ants are known to occur in 14 U.S. states or >territories: >Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, >Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, >Tennessee, and Texas and Puerto Rico. They can also be found >sporadically in southeastern Virginia and in Maryland. Varieties: http://www.extension.org/pages/Geographic_Distribution_of_Fire_Ants but there are biting ants in other areas, and if allergic responses can happen to ants other than fire ants. For heartworm (which can be prevented with the right meds and now will be easier to treat in infected ferrets again since Proheart has been demonstrated to not pose any unusual level of risk and it's what works really well for already infected ferrets) see: http://www.heartwormsociety.org/download/incidencemap.jpg http://www.heartwormsociety.org/ Heartworm is a risk which must be taken seriously through most of the U.S., and the range increased a lot in some areas where it had previously been rare or unknown after Hurricane Katrina rescues because the first ones were not checked for heartworm before being relocated and they carried it to other mosquito areas. Even some extreme northern areas have it now, so folks in Canada need to be aware, too, please. Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html [Posted in FML 6036]
