The weekly mosquito spraying around the City of Perry has begun for the year, but staff is also utilizing natural methods for pest control.

The Public Works and Parks and Recreation departments partnered to create and install “Bat Boxes” at various locations around the City, such as Perkins and Pattee parks, along the Raccoon River Valley Trail, and next to Frog Creek, which have traditionally been hotbeds for mosquito breeding. Public Works Director Jack Butler says the boxes resemble bird houses, and are designed to attract bats to where they’ll do the most good. “You know, the bats are already here, so we put these boxes along the creek and that way it attracts the bats to that area where the mosquitoes are at. And they claim that one bat can eat up to 5,000 mosquitos a night. We thought, ‘Well, that’d be a perfect time and place to put some bat boxes, and try to have a little help from Mother Nature killing off some of these mosquitoes!’”

Butler also reminds the public his crews will continue chemical pest control each Thursday evening throughout the summer, and that people can do their part by emptying any standing water around their house at least once a week. To learn more about this and other Perry Public Works topics, click the link below to listen to the recent Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program with Butler.

https://www.raccoonvalleyradio.com/2020/06/05/lets-talk-dallas-county-6-5-2020-jack-butler/