Infected skeeters force Merced to step up spraying

By Carol Reiter
creiter@mercedsun-star.com

E-Mail

reprint or license

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

MERCED — After finding mosquitoes infected with the West Nile virus, the Merced Mosquito Abatement District has stepped up aerial spraying for the insects.

Bruce Bondi, assistant manager of the district, said the infected mosquitoes were found just north of Hilmar.

The discovery isn't the first of West Nile in Merced County this year. Bondi said that two dead birds in north Merced were found in June and July.

"The first dead bird was just off of Olive (Avenue), by the junior college," Bondi said. The dead bird, turned in by a resident, was a woodpecker.

Another bird, a sparrow, was found in the same area. Although both birds tested positive for West Nile, no humans have tested positive yet this year, said Katie Albertson, director of governmental affairs for Merced County.

The aerial spraying will be done at dusk, Bondi said, and the spray is made of natural pyrethrin, which kills adult mosquitoes. The pyrethrins aren't harmful to humans, pets or the environment when applied in accordance with label instructions.

The district usually sprays both adulticides and larvacides to control mosquito populations in the county. In January, the district was told that it couldn't spray for adult mosquitoes.

But Bondi said it got the OK to spray for adult mosquitoes in midsummer and has been spraying ever since. The district uses both ground trucks and planes to spray, he said.

"We usually put the plane up near the end of each week," Bondi said. The aircraft is a white twin- engine Cessna 337 with red trim and the words "Mosquito Control" on the underside.

People who want to see when the plane will be flying can go to www.mcmosquito.org. It is updated daily.

"We will spray until we get a freeze; usually, that's about mid-November," Bondi said.