Abstract: On December 9, 1990, Employee #1, a game warden for the California Department of Fish and Game, made several arrests for possession of more than the permissible limit of squirrels and for hunting in a game preserve. He skinned the squirrels for later use as evidence. Employee #1 subsequently became very ill, and was diagnosed with a relapsing fever secondary to exposure to borrelia, a spirochete found in the saliva or excreta of lice and ticks. It is believed that he became infected from a tick bite suffered while skinning the squirrels. It was the opinion of the medical unit that this incident could not have been prevented, and that Fish and Game training and procedures are appropriate.