Press Release

 

Reporting Agency: Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District

 

Contact Person: John Albright, Biologist

 

Date:  May 24, 1999

 

Subject:  Enterprise Park Yellowjacket Control Hindered by Theft and Vandalism

 

Text:

 

A program to help protect children playing at Kid’s Kingdom in Enterprise Park from attacks by stinging yellowjackets was seriously harmed by the theft of five yellowjacket traps from the park last week.  Twenty of the traps were deployed around the park to catch yellowjacket queens and prevent the establishment of yellowjacket nests in the area.  “Yellowjackets (also misnamed ‘meat bees’) live in nests of up to 10,000 individuals”, states John Albright, biologist for the Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District, the agency which was conducting the experimental program.  “Every queen caught in the spring means one less nest of thousands later in the summer and fall.  This theft of traps occurred during a vary narrow window of opportunity for catching queens before they move permanently into their nests and begin producing workers to forage for them.”

 

Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District began its experimental yellowjacket control program in 1998, responding to numerous reports of a serious yellowjacket infestation in the vicinity of the park in the summer of 1997.  In 1998 the traps were set from April through October and caught 101 queens in the early season.  This translates to between 400,000 and one million fewer yellowjacket workers stinging picnickers, park workers, and children playing at the playground thanks to the traps according to Albright.  During the seven months the traps were out last year sixteen were stolen or destroyed. 

 

For the current year’s program the yellowjackets caught by the traps are counted weekly to assess whether control efforts are working according to Bill Hazeleur, Manager for the district.  “Not only does the loss of traps at this crucial time mean that some yellowjacket queens will not be caught, but when ¼ of our traps are missing in a one-week period we cannot even get good data to evaluate our effect on the population of these pests.”

 

The yellowjacket traps used by Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District are the same as those that may be bought commercially at most garden centers.  A three-inch wide Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District logo sticker is attached to each trap to identify as belonging to the district.  The district is setting traps only in public parks because private pest control companies take care of yellowjackets on private property.  Any yellowjacket traps with a Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District sticker seen outside of public parks should be reported to the district.

 

Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District has been doing mosquito control in Shasta County since 1919 when malaria was a great concern in this area.  The district concerns itself with all types of insects that transmit disease or annoyance to humans and other animals.  For more information on mosquitoes, yellowjackets and other pests contact the district at 365-3768 or Shasta MVCD Home Page .

 

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