The cooler temperatures outside wouldn’t have you thinking of mosquito season, but the City of Winnipeg is in full-on insect control mode.
The season’s first mosquito briefing was held Thursday, previewing the city’s upcoming plans to wage war on the blood-sucking skeeters.
Newly-appointed superintendent of insect control, Ken Nawolsky, says the city has started surveillance and larviciding activities to get a jump on the bugs.
“For the next seven to 14 days, you’re going to see some over-wintering adult mosquitoes out there. You’ll see occasionally they’re kind of clumsy, bigger mosquitoes out there. They’re not too aggressive… and in about two weeks time you may see the odd spring species (from untreatable areas).”
The first mosquito larvae was discovered on April 26 and monitoring has continued since then. Larviciding began on May 5 with the city’s helicopters.
Nawolsky says the cool weather is helping crews to treat the water before the larvae can emerge as adult mosquitoes.
A focus is being put on areas in the west end of Winnipeg, where significantly more standing water has been identified than in other areas.
The first official trap count was at 0 last week and is expected to remain low for several more weeks.
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