Wasps thriving in hot, dry weather
EDMONTON The city’s pest-control division has responded to hundreds of complaints related to wasps on city property in the last three weeks, thanks to hot and dry weather.
Operations crews have been taking 10-12 calls a day, prompting the city to ask Edmontonians to take precautions against wasps when putting out garbage and recycling for pick up so waste collectors do not get stung.
“We’ll have to add them all up at the end of the season, but it’s certainly an unusually high number,” read an email from the city’s animal-care and pest-management department Friday. “Definitely the most calls we’ve had in several years.”
Wasps thrive when it is hot because they are cold-blooded and so can breed more and have larger nests, pest management officials said. Wasps benefit trees and garden plants as they feed their larvae with pest insects.