Publication Date June 5, 2016 | info.news.ca

Climate change associated with rising mosquito populations in the Okanagan

Canada
A female aedes japonicus mosquito is seen biting a person in this May 2015 handout photograph. Aedes japonicus is a disease-carrying mosquito which has just been confirmed present in Western Canada. Photo: Sean McCann, The Canadian Press
A female aedes japonicus mosquito is seen biting a person in this May 2015 handout photograph. Aedes japonicus is a disease-carrying mosquito which has just been confirmed present in Western Canada. Photo: Sean McCann, The Canadian Press

Climate change means the spring melt is coming sooner and the early freshet means more mosquitoes are hatching more often than in past years in the Okanagan.

"I think we’ve all been addressing climate change," Wildsafe B.C. Community Coordinator Zoe Kirk told a recent Okanagan Similkameen Regional District board meeting.

"We started the freshet early for the second time in three years, but this time it was incredibly early, so when the water started to rise, we began getting calls in March about nuisance mosquitoes," Kirk said