The Key West Citizen

Navy Keeps Constant Check On
Key West Mosquito Population

How the Navy Mosquito Control office decides when to use the fog jeep and trailer is explained by the office in an informative release issued recently.

A constant check is maintained over the mosquito population using the Stations as a blood bank through the nightly use of mosquito traps. Mosquitoes - like humans - have a great fondness for the "bright lights" and are rather easily captured during the night by placing a light bulb over a sucking fan and a poison jar under the fan.

The Unit operates nine of these traps at strategic locations over the area. Daily, the poison jars are gathered and the captured mosquitoes are separated from the multitudes of other insects also attracted and killed. The mosquitoes are then identified as to kind. The importance of this step can be seen from the fact that Florida has more than seventy species of mosquitoes, of which less than twenty five are serious biters of man. The remainder feed on domestic and wild animals or birds, turtles, lizards and even the lowly frog.

Now we reach the gist of all this. This Unit has learned from past experience that when the number of a biting type mosquitoes caught each night in a single trap is more than fifteen that then enough mosquitoes are present in the general area of the trap to make outdoor evening and night time activities definitely lose their appeal. And it is our biting mosquito count of fifteen that the fog jeep swings into action. When most or all of the traps are checked off the big numbers the fog truck parked and the spray plane goes into action.

We know that you are going to say - that one mosquito is just as poisonous to you as fifteen. We feel that way too when that one mosquito is trapped in our bed room late on a short night with working time soon coming up. But like all other government activities, the use of public funds must be justified. By regulations we are required to first survey the situation and only when our bug trained eye tells us that dangerous levels of abundance have been reached may we use the many dollars that are necessary to give even partial relief from mosquitoes. If you want the real lowdown, there just aren't enough dollars in Uncle Sam's pockets to get that last mosquito- but he has got enough to allow us to make a comfortable dent when the crowd gets too great.

Call us about your problems. We work on the "complaint system and accordingly appreciate all your calls. It tells us how we're doing, how we're not doing and what we should be doing.

MOSQUITO CONTROL OFFICE
P. O. Box 1010
U. S. Naval Station
Key West, Florida
Phone 340 or 274
Bldg No 265 Naval Station