Sask. sees 'perfect' conditions for wasps

SASKATOON -

The owner of a Saskatoon pest control agency says he’s been seeing more wasps this year.

"This year has been the busiest year in my 14 years of experience and mostly because it's dry and that works really good for a wasps," said Wendell Dunbar of Discreet Pest Control

Dunbar has been removing one to three wasp or hornet nests a day, which he says is way above average compared to other years where he would do one to three per week.

"Conditions are just absolutely perfect for them this year."

Sean Prager is an assistant professor of plant science at the University of Saskatchewan who has studied the western yellowjacket common to Saskatchewan and North America.

He says if people are seeing more wasps, it might be due to the drought.

"The theory would be that because we're in a drought, we're having less water for the plants and plants then produce less nectar which is the food for the wasps."

Since there is less food for the wasps, the species flock to areas where people are and search for nutrients.

It’s also later in summer – the time when wasp colonies are growing.

"There's less food, so they're becoming more desperate," said Prager.

"Eventually, the weather will get cooler, so the cold weather itself will cause them to slow down and then they'll just die because they're seasonal."

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