TICK COLLECTOR

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24149, 7 January 1944, Page 7

TICK COLLECTOR

DOG AIDS MAKING OF SERUM From Our Own Correspondent SYDNEY, January 4. “Smooger,” a red retriever dog, owned by Mrs J. Moffatt, of Sydney, collects ticks which are bought by the New South Wales Health Department to make anti-tick serum. The proceeds are given by Mrs Moffatt to the Prisoners of War Fund. Ticks are prevalent in Sydney’s northern suburbs, and kill hundreds of dogs and cats yearly. They can also be fatal to children and make adults very ill. The supply of anti-tick serum, made from the tick itself, is in desperately short supply. After reading of a girl who almost lost her life because no serum was immediately available, Mrs Moffatt decided to employ "Smooger” as a collector. “Smooger” is three years old, and was bitten so often as a puppy, that he became immune to tick bite. Mrs Moffatt takes “Smooger" into the scrub near her home at Manly and sends him bounding through the bushes after a ball or stone. After he has done this several times, “Smooger” is ready for harvesting. Mrs Moffatt runs her hands over his shaggy coat and removes the ticks which have fastened on to him while he was searching for the ball. Mrs Moffatt puts the ticks in a bottle and sends them to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories. For each tick, she is paid threepence. “Smooger" collects about 160 ticks a month. “ITI have to find some new bush,” said Mrs Moffatt. “‘Smooger’ has practically exhausted the supply of ticks around our house.”