“City dog puts the bite on bedbugs” |
| City dog puts the bite on bedbugs Posted: 04 Nov 2010 03:53 AM PDT Hotels and apartments are not the only places experiencing bedbug problems in the Lower Mainland. According to Orkin pest management services, the bugs can also be found in multi-family housing, health-care facilities and transportation vessels, such as cruiseships, airplanes and taxis. Orkin pest control specialist Sonal Hache, who works in the company's Burnaby office, says the number of complaints increased at such a rate in spring that the company turned to a new weapon in its fight to eradicate bedbugs - it's enlisted Frankie, a one-year-old Jack Russell terrier. Frankie joined the Orkin team in February as Hache's partner and is believed to be the first bedbug-sniffing dog in B.C. Hache said Frankie was rescued from a shelter and sent to scent detection classes at the Florida Canine Academy in Tampa, where he underwent almost 600 hours of training in bedbug detection. During a visit to the Vancouver Courier office for a photo session, Frankie was a wriggling bundle of energy. Hache said the dog becomes highly excited when he's removed from his kennel because he assumes he's going to work. Hache said Orkin's Burnaby branch, which covers Vancouver, received between 10 to 15 calls a day regarding bedbugs, a 35 per cent increase from 2006. The pests are the size of an apple seed or smaller and feed only on blood, usually from humans. They feed at night and leave their victims with seemingly inexplicable itchy, red welts. Bedbugs hide in mattress seams, behind baseboards, in furniture and anywhere else close to a human host. Females lay up to five eggs a day, for an average between 200 and 500 in a lifetime. The eggs are tiny and white, about the size of a dust speck. Hache said that, once trained, all dog breeds have the ability to sniff out the pests and their eggs before the infestation gets out of control. The key is to detect the bugs early before they have the chance to spread. Hache said Frankie is adjusting to his new job and life in her home, but her cat is unimpressed. Shelley Beaudet, senior environmental health control officer with Vancouver Coastal Health, said heat kills all bedbugs, so clothing can be decontaminated by running it through one cycle in a hot dryer. Bedbugs can be brought home on second-hand items, such as furniture, electronics and clothes, all of which should be inspected thoroughly for signs of the pests. Black or red blood stains or spots of fecal material on upholstered furniture, sheets, pillows, mattresses and box springs are signs of infestation, as is an unpleasant, sweet, musty odour. Bedbugs can crawl up to 30 metres to feed. If you suspect you have bedbugs, Beaudet recommends purchasing a bedbug-proof mattress cover because the pests are unable to chew through them and suffocate and die. "But you have to make sure it's one with scientific documentation," she said. "If it has a big zipper, it's not certified and the bugs will be able to crawl through it." -Sandra Thomas is a reporter at Burnaby NOW's sister paper, the Vancouver Courier © Copyright (c) Lower Mainland Publishing This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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