mosquito control

So BugFest honestly has been a dream, uh, for quite a few years.

And, you know, our whole goal really is to be able to bring science and entomology to, you know, our residents, and so that they have a better understanding of what we do from a, a insect, um, mosquito control management, but also how do we protect, uh, the butterflies and bees and all the other pollinators that are there.

Yeah.

What should people who are going to attend know about it?

What do you hope BugFest attendees will leave with when they attend?

You know, our goal at BugFest, we want to be able to have people enjoy science.

We're scientists at Mosquito Control, many of us.

Um, but, you know, how do you teach science in a fun way? And, you know, our goal is that everyone's gonna leave BugFest, um, hopefully learning a lot of really cool things.

I'm Alesia Cross.

Efforts to stop the spread of dengue fever have Lee County Mosquito Control on the front lines in Hillsborough County.

Mosquito Control helicopter pilots and crews are joining forces with Manatee and Pasco Counties to help with aerial pesticide spraying.

WGCU's Jennifer Crawford talks with Jen McBride, communications director of Lee County Mosquito Control, about the work to prevent dengue fever transmissions.

You literally just got off of a helicopter that was spraying in Hillsborough County.

What's the headline out of this news conference with the authorities regarding what's going on as far as efforts and the numbers?

And what kind of forces have you guys deployed to the Hillsborough County area to help in this fight?

So, uh, for us, we have a large a- aerial crew, of course, because of our habitat area here in Lee County.

You're still working with the forest birds.

You're still working with this mosquito control program.

Do you feel a sense of hope or optimism at this point?

I do, I definitely do.

And I think that like what's happened, but you know, I mean, a tempered one, like a, a, we will need more resources to do this.

Um, uh, there, there are ways to do mosquito control.

We need more, um, like just to continue the work that we have been doing over the last several years on mosquito control, we need to continue to do more work on mosquito control.

It needs to be expanded to other islands and to investigate more different tools than what we're currently using.

Yeah, so I'm going to hold this up to MJTV.

The Hillsborough County Mosquito Control Helicopter.

Listen, we got the...

Hillsborough County's got...

Seriously? Who's flying? It's

not pest control.

Who's flying it? No, it's the Hillsborough County Mosquito Control.

It's literally the on my flight radar 24.