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FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) – Something is hiding in Lake Lanier.
"They are everywhere here," said one visitor.
The creatures are small but will certainly suck the pleasure of your day.
"They are not very big, but come back in the fall and they will be very big," laughed Richard Pickering.
Leeches.
Pickering showed one that is hanging on his glove. "He's trying to suck my blood," he said.
Pickering told FOX 5 News during his four decades of diving at Lake Lanier that he had never seen more active leeches.
"Usually, it's just one, two or a few people throughout the summer, but for whatever reason this year, there are many here," said Pickering.
What began as a celebratory dive for the graduation of his son and friends has turned into a straight out of the clbadic Stand by Me movie.
He added that the group had plunged into shallow waters for safety reasons, but was covered by about 30 to 40 leeches.
"One of the boys had one who was committed to his business," said Pickering. "As you can imagine, this is nothing nice."
Social media is flooded with complaints from all corners of the lake, but the Corps of Engineers of the Army told FOX 5 News that they had not received any public reports. A spokesman added that he had not observed any mitigating factors that could lead to an increase in the number of leeches, but they are studying the issue more closely.
According to Aquascape Environmental, while worm-like creatures can make you squirm, the leeches in this area do not suck enough blood to cause damage.
If you find a leech attached to your skin, you should not simply remove it because its mouthparts could get stuck and cause an infection. Environmental experts say you must expose the fall to salt or heat to force it to let it go.
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