For many Edmontonians, it may be difficult to stay still while outside – as any time spent outside probably means getting attacked by vicious mosquitoes.
City of Edmonton officials said it has been decades since so many mosquitoes have been seen in the city in August.
Officials blame rain in July, and high humidity for helping to make mosquito numbers grow – experts said the rain drives mosquito eggs to hatch.
No official statistics were available to share Thursday, but one expert estimated city traps are catching about 3,500 mosquitoes, compared to about 200, which is considered normal.
Mike Jenkins with the City of Edmonton said a spike at this time of year is typically short-lived.
“If it’s dry, it will help dry those mosquitoes out,” Jenkins said. “If the humidity stays up the mosquitoes are going to stick around a little bit longer, but probably at most a week, maybe 10 days until they’re pretty much all gone.”
Meanwhile, the City is reminding Edmontonians to wear mosquito repellant with DEET and cover up bare skin – but the City of Leduc is trying a different approach.
Since May, crews in Leduc have been spraying sports fields and busy parks with “mosquito barrier”, a natural spray that is mostly pure garlic.
“It contains many different types of sulphides that mosquitoes don’t like, so really, in essence, it just repels the mosquito away from the area, not necessarily killing the mosquito,” Todd Wilson, with the City of Leduc said.
The pilot program will cost less than $400.
Officials said they’ve received positive feedback from surveys conducted in areas where the spray is used.
With files from Veronica Jubinville
