Pest Control Highlights of 2021

Pest Control Highlights of 2021

As 2022 beings, we took some time to reflect on the most notable moments in pest control during 2021.  

Australia’s Awful Plague of Mice

“Everywhere I walk, there are mice underfoot here,” exclaimed CNN Producer Angus Watson as he walked through a local barn in New South Wales Australia. A long drought followed by eventual rain and relief in 2020 initially seemed like a blessing for local farmers. But along with the abundance the rain brought, it also drew out large populations of mice from hiding. With such a plethora of crops for these rodents to feast on their population rapidly began to explode, turning into a full-blown plague of the pests. You can be in bed at night, and you can actually hear them running around the bedroom… and you hear them rustling as they’re running across the pillow… it’s just unsettling…” described local farmer Lisa Minogue as she cringed. “It has been constant, it hasn’t let up,” added local Brody Roche, “the ground just moves with mice.” The plague of rodents led to mass devastation for locals with both homes and businesses being utterly destroyed. “We’re back to where we were nearly in the middle of the drought and lost a lot of money and heartache in between,” commented a local farmer. Along with financial devastation, the plague of mice also posed a massive threat to the health and wellness of locals. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vector-borne diseases such as those passed by rodents are responsible for roughly 17% of all infectious diseases and over a million deaths worldwide each year. In reflection, this 2021 plague of rodents will be an important learning opportunity that can help set a precedence for any future rodent plagues that may occur and may even help us figure out ways to avoid other such infestations altogether.

A Boom in Bed Bug Infestations

The lockdowns in 2020 led to a massive decrease in travel not only across the United States, but throughout the world. As bed bugs are hitchhiking pests, this led to an overall decrease in cases of bed bug infestations. However, with the lifting of many lockdown rules in 2021, there was a sudden boom in travel once again and, with this increase in travel, came a notable increase in bed bug infestations once again.

Honeybee Harmony

In celebration of the United Nations’ World Bee Day on May 20^th, famed actress and philanthropist Angelina Jolie partnered with National Geographic to raise awareness regarding the threat of honeybee extinction. Unlike other stinging pests, honeybees are both very docile creatures and extremely fundamental to their local ecosystems. “Honeybees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats and hummingbirds, [that] are increasingly under threat from human activities.” In fact, compared to previous years, there has been a 100 – 1,000 time increase in honeybee extinction rates. The National Geographic special on bees featured a stunning photograph of Jolie shot by famed photographer Dan Winters in which Jolie is covered in honeybees with even more bees buzzing around her. In reflection of the experience, she stated that, “it just felt lovely to be connected to these beautiful creatures.” In addition to staring in the iconic photoshoot, Angelina took a leading role in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s new “Women for Bees” program that provides 30-day beekeeping courses for women to promote the conservation of pollinators and other biodiversity.

Pest Control, NOT Pet Control

On May 25^th, 2021, in the Centennial Hills area of Las Vegas, Nevada, a ring camera captured video of a pest control salesman kicking a cat. The video quickly went viral, and the sick man was identified as a sales representative of a local pest control company: Williams Pest Control. The owner of the company, Royce Williams, quickly took to local news stations to denounce the actions of the now former employee. Luckily the cat is okay following the incident and the owner has commented that she is now being kept indoors 24/7 to avoid any other situations like this. While the incident appeared to be a completely isolated case, we at Pointe Pest Control were still beyond saddened to hear about what occurred. We support and care for all our customers and community members who are pet owners and pet lovers!

Viral Insects

While animals tend to go viral all the time, insects are a different story. In 2021 however, there were two notable moments when insects truly went viral. The first one appeared on social media in late summer/early fall of 2021 and included a series of photographs of a bizarre looking creature. A bout of summer rain had led to the emergence of these creatures in some areas of Texas and, as the news of their existence spread, theories sprung up regarding what the creepy crawly could be. While, at a first glance, they appeared to closely resemble scorpions, these creatures are actually part of another group of arachnids entirely called vinegaroons, which are known for their unique ability to shoot acid from their rears. the Mastigoproctus giganteus (also known as the Giant North American Vinegaroon) is known for living in Texas, as well as Arizona and Florida, and is most likely the species of vinegaroon that was making headlines at the time. Later in the year, around October, a funny video of a praying mantis went viral briefly. The short video showed a welding machine working away on some job while a praying mantis stands before it, sizing up the machine and engaging in a fighting stance. As sparks fly from the apparatus, the mantis strikes at them aggressively and advances toward the welder. Moments later, a large stream of sparks shoots straight at the mantis. Though it seems like he disappears from being shot back from the sparks, he appears suddenly clinging to the side of the welder. Upon closer inspection, he can be seen leaping with shocking speed to avoid the sparks. The mantis soon jumps down from the welder and seems to abandon his assault, slowly walking away. Both social media sensations were met with awe and amusement as people were dumbfounded by this crazy species of arachnid and the shockingly brazen actions of the praying mantis.  

Citations

Bees and Wasps (no date) Illinois Department of Public Health. Available at: https://www.dph.illinois.gov/topics-services/environmental-health-protection/structural-pest-control/bees-wasps (Accessed: May 21, 2021). Brisco, E. (2021) Angelina Jolie is covered in bees and calls it ‘lovely’: See the photo, USA Today. Available at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2021/05/20/angelina-jolie-poses-bunch-buzzing-bees-world-bee-day/5180907001/ (Accessed: May 21, 2021). Brood X cicadas map: Where you will find them in 2021 (2021) The Enquirer. USA Today Network. Available at: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2021/05/06/brood-x-cicadas-map-what-states/4946803001/ (Accessed: May 18, 2021). Brown, W. (2014) Insect of the Month: Cicadas, Texas A&M University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences – Department of Entomology. Available at: https://entomology.tamu.edu/2014/06/24/insect-of-the-month-cicadas/ (Accessed: October 2020). Cicada (2017) Amateur Entomologists’ Society . Available at: https://www.amentsoc.org/insects/glossary/terms/cicada (Accessed: October 2020EPA Actions to Protect Pollinators (2021) EPA. Environmental Protection Agency. Available at: https://www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/epa-actions-protect-pollinators (Accessed: May 21, 2021). The Giant North AMERICAN Vinegaroon? It’s actually seven different SPECIES: AMNH (no date) American Museum of Natural History. Available at: https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/research-posts/the-giant-north-american-vinegaroon-it-s-actually-seven-different-species (Accessed: September 3, 2021). Health Hazards Posed by Rodents (2014) Pest World. National Pest Management Association. Available at: https://www.pestworld.org/news-hub/pest-health-hub/health-hazards-posed-by-rodents/ (Accessed: June 2020). Jaramillo, S. (2021) Pest control company receives death threats after video of worker kicking cat goes viral, Fox 59. Available at: https://fox59.com/news/national-world/pest-control-company-receives-death-threats-after-video-of-worker-kicking-cat-goes-viral/ (Accessed: June 17, 2021). Lakshmanan, I. (2021) Angelina Jolie embraces bees-and female beekeepers as environmental guardians, National Geographic. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/bee-conservation-women-entrepreneurs-angelina-jolie (Accessed: May 21, 2021). Levy, M. (2020) Cicadas Are Delightful Weirdos You Should Learn to Love, Smithsonian Magazine. The Smithsonian Institute. Available at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-are-cicadas-180975009/ (Accessed: October 2020). Lewis, S. (2021) Acid-spraying, scorpion-like insects spotted in Texas, CBS News. Available at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vinegaroon-texas-whip-scorpion-acid-shooting-land-lobster/ (Accessed: September 3, 2021). Miranda, G. (2021) Summer rains in this national Park draw OUT acid-spraying, scorpion-like creatures, USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network. Available at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/07/22/summer-rain-brings-out-acid-spraying-scorpion-like-insect-texas/8053060002/ (Accessed: September 3, 2021). Mouse plague deals fresh blow to Australian farmers (2021) BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-57225103 (Accessed: May 26, 2021). Myatt, K. and Klein-Davis, S. (2021) 17-year cicadas: Not our problem this time, Roanoke Times. Available at: https://roanoke.com/news/local/17-year-cicadas-not-our-problem-this-time/article_8ef94bb0-b4bb-11eb-bcdc-1374a7b824c5.html (Accessed: May 18, 2021). National Geographic Staff (2019) Cicadas, National Geographic. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/group/cicadas/ (Accessed: October 2020). Neumann, L. (2021) ‘This is evil’: Video catches salesman kicking cat off person’s porch, The Daily Dot. Available at: https://www.dailydot.com/irl/salesman-kicks-cat-video/ (Accessed: June 17, 2021). Orchard Cicada (no date) Washington State University Department of Entomology. Available at: http://entomology.wsu.edu/outreach/bug-info/cicada/ (Accessed: October 2020). Praying Mantis Fights An Industrial Welding Machine (2021) YouTube. Salty Guppy. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyilAEkWg_M (Accessed: October 11, 2021). Rodents (2010) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases and the Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/rodents/index.html (Accessed: January 27, 2021). Rogers, J. (2020) Get Set for the Return of Cicadas and Their ‘Alien-like Wail’ After 17 Years Underground, Fox News. Available at: https://www.foxnews.com/science/return-cicadas-alien-like-wail-after-17-years-underground (Accessed: July 2020). Roos, D. (2013) Should Farmers & Gardeners Worry About 17-Year Cicadas?, North Carolina State University. Available at: go.ncsu.edu/readext?212433 (Accessed: July 2020). Sulleyman, A. (2021) Acid-spraying, scorpion-like vinegaroons looking for love emerge in Texas, Newsweek. Available at: https://www.newsweek.com/acid-spraying-scorpion-like-vinegaroons-looking-love-emerge-texas-1611388 (Accessed: September 3, 2021). Tick bites by week and Month (2021) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickedvisits/tick-bite-by-week-month.html (Accessed: January 3, 2022). Vector-borne diseases (2020) World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/vector-borne-diseases (Accessed: April 30, 2021). Watson, A. and Devitt, P. (2021) Australia plans to end its mouse plague with poison, CNN. Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/20/australia/australia-mouse-plague-dst-intl-hnk/index.html (Accessed: May 26, 2021). World Bee Day (no date) United Nations. Available at: https://www.un.org/en/observances/bee-day (Accessed: May 21, 2021).