Wasps ready to swarm in Regina

The city of Regina says the wasp season is here.

The bug that starts attacking sweet or juicy foods or drinks around this time of year is known for attacking humans when they come too close.

City spokesperson Russell Eirich said with shorter days and cooler evenings, wasps will be out in full force.

“Wasps are actually a beneficial insect in the summer time, they actually eat a lot of of insects in our gardens, and they bring those dead insects back to their hives,” Eirich said. “At which time they’re feeding that to their larvae (and) their larvae again give off a bit of a honeydew sort of thing with it, and that’s how they feed their colonies and feed their adults.”

Eirich said wasps will be more aggressive over the next few days.

“We’re getting shorter days, which means the wasps are having more difficulty in trying to feed their own nests which means now they’re looking for all of that super sugary, sweet food,” Eirich said. “We’re enjoying our summers, so they’re coming after the stuff that we like.”

Eirich said this is the beginning of the cycle for wasps.

“This is the time that we start to see the calls, and they’ll go right up until freeze up,” Eirich said. “When you get that first night of hard frost, then our numbers basically drop and then we can take a snapshot in time and see what we faced.”

Mosquito numbers are on the way down as well. Eirich adds crews caught 108 mosquitoes per trap, down from the 350 caught the week earlier.

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