The number of mosquitoes in the region is high this year / control also in Bötzingen.
. Small and nasty – they are currently in abundance again: mosquitoes of all kinds. The damp weather ensures that the number of animals on the Upper Rhine is high – especially compared to recent years. Because they were rather mosquito-free because of their very dry summers. This is reported by Dirk Reichle, scientific director of the municipal action group to combat the gnat plague – KABS for short. This takes action against mosquitoes in its member communities on the Upper Rhine. The only community in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district is Bötzingen.
As the reason for the high number of mosquitoes that are currently on the move, Reichle cites the many flood waves in the Rhine since May. The bank areas where the mosquitoes have laid their eggs are flooded. They lie there for months – sometimes even years – depending on the dry season. As soon as the area is flooded, the larvae sometimes even hatch within a few hours. Since the areas have already been flooded several times this year, the animals have reproduced in large numbers. The last water level, which was above normal, was fatal, says Reichle. After a minor flood peak a few days later, the level rose again by one meter in July, causing the larvae to be washed over a large area and thus spread extremely. Even ten kilometers from the Rhine you can still feel the high number of mosquitoes that have emerged from these larvae.
That is why the KABS team has been on the road continuously since May to fight against mosquitoes – especially in the northern Upper Rhine, where the number of mosquitoes is even higher than in the south. An active ingredient is distributed – sometimes even with helicopters – which uses a protein to kill the larvae in the water. Other living beings digest the protein, it has no consequences for them. One has to take extensive action against the mosquitoes, as they are very happy to hike, explains Reichle from the KABS. In Bötzingen at the end of July, a helicopter was used to combat mosquitoes in a 25-hectare rain-flooded forest area on the outskirts, says Reichle. The Erlenschachen area is often under water after heavy rainfall, mainly because the water table is high, as Mayor Dieter Schneckenburger explains. That is why the area is an excellent breeding ground for mosquitoes – but because visitors to the neighboring swimming pool, the forest adventure trail or the sports facilities can also feel it, the KABS joined in 2009. “In the evening people could no longer go to the swimming pool,” said Schneckenburger. Membership costs the community around 10,000 to 15,000 euros a year – depending on the number of KABS deployments on site against the mosquitoes. Reichle cites the “enormous nuisance” caused by their bites and the resulting economic consequences if, for example, guests in the catering trade are driven away by the mosquitoes as reasons why one takes action against the animals, and on the other hand also the transferability of diseases the stitches. By the way, mosquitoes need the blood of their victims for egg development.
It should not be forgotten that mosquitoes also multiply strongly in residential areas – due to a lot of precipitation and the constantly rising temperatures of 30 degrees. The number of potential breeding grounds, i.e. flower pot coasters, buckets, clogged gutters or rain barrels that are flooded, is increasing – and with it the number of mosquitos. The expert advises that such water collection points and stagnant water should be avoided at all costs.
If larvae have formed, you can use appropriate tablets to counteract the growth of flies in your own garden, for example. In Bötzingen, for example, every citizen can pick up bags with ten tablets from the KABS at the town hall free of charge. The tablets can then be put in the rain barrel, for example, so that the mosquito larvae are killed. In this way, around 200 to 250 packs are distributed every year, reports Head of the Office, Andreas Jenne.
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