This article was originally published in the Summer 2017 issue of Cottage Life.
Gah, leeches! These guys mess with your enjoyment of the lake. Back in the cigarette heyday, folks used lighter flame to burn them off. But nobody smokes anymore. And fire isn’t necessary. “A leech absorbs chemicals through its soft body, so almost anything would get it to let go as it attempts to avoid whatever is irritating it,” says Jacqueline Madill, a senior research assistant in zoology with the Canadian Museum of Nature. Salt works. So would bug repellent or hard liquor. “But I try to treat leeches with some respect,” says Madill. “I find that breaking the suction of the suckers, one at a time with a fingernail while I immerse the leech in the water, tricks the leech into letting go.”
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