LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- The mild winter has resulted in an early start to tick season in Kentucky.
Agents with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service say the pests have been reported three to four weeks earlier than normal. In western Kentucky, Graves County agricultural extension agent Kenny Perry says he's had calls about ticks for more than a month.
Perry County ag extension agent Charles May says he's seeing tickets earlier than before in his region of eastern Kentucky.
Lee Townsend, extension entomologist with the UK College of Agriculture, says winter survival rates were probably higher among ticks due to the mild winter. He says tick season started earlier because of the warm spring.
The two most common ticks in Kentucky do not carry Lyme disease.
