Poultry Plant Closes Again After Cockroach Cleanup

Source: ABC News

While we in the northwest may enjoy relative freedom from cockroaches compared to many other parts of the country, cockroaches are found here and do present a problem in the greater Seattle area from time to time.  What's more is the health issues they present...which is why a chicken growing facility was recently closed due to high cockroach populations:

A California chicken farm that reopened over the weekend after it was shut because of a cockroach infestation says it's "voluntarily and temporarily" suspending operations again.

Foster Farms said Sunday it was closing the plant in Livingston for several days so it can properly implement new food safety measures. The company said in a statement that it is "exercising vigilance" and dedicating additional time to ensure its preventative plan is realized.

Work had resumed Saturday after Foster Farms announced that it met the demands of the U.S. Department of Agriculture by performing a thorough cleanup and treatment of the plant. The company says no chicken product was affected.
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As far as protection from cockroaches in your home or business in the greater Seattle area (Bellevue, Redmond, Everett, Federal Way and more) contact Cascade Pest Control.  We care about your health and your property!

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Don Leland

Bed Bugs a Little More Active in Summer

A study published in the Journal of Medical Entomology looked at reports on bed bugs over a four year period in the Philadelphia area and found both that overall populations are increasing and that the highest incidents of calls were in August and the lowest in February.

“There is surprisingly very little known about seasonal trends among bed bug populations,” said Michael Z. Levy, PhD, assistant professor in the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CCEB), who mapped the bed bug hotspots in Philadelphia in an effort to find more effective ways to control them. “We found a steep and significant seasonal cycle in bed bug reporting, and suspect that bed bugs have different levels of mobility depending on the season, and that their population size may fluctuate throughout the year.”

Although some conclusions have been infered about bed bug populations this study was based on reports, so it could point to activity rather than populations.  It could be that bed bug populations do not "go down" in the winter, but are not as active, not biting people as much.  Either way bed bugs are a an issue that wasn't present through most of the U.S. from around 1950 to about 2005 and now they are back!

"While bed bugs likely migrate actively over short distances, perhaps between adjacent rooms or houses, we think they are starting new infestation hotspots throughout the city by riding on people or personal effects over longer distances," said Mabud.
For more information see http://esa.publisher.ingentaconnect.com/content/esa/jme/2014/00000051/00000001/art00006

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Don Leland

Research Shows Spider Webs Electrostatic Force in Webs

According to researchers at Oxford University, spiders’ webs electrostatically reach out and ‘grab’ airborne particles, droplets and even insects. Electrically conductive glue spread over the threads of the web enables the web to spring out at passing charged particles (including insects), regardless of whether they are positively or negatively charged. This helps to explain how webs are able to efficiently collect airborne particles and why they actively reach out to passing insects.

Full article from Oxford Student newspaper.      
Cascade Pest Control offers a fully developed spider control program, see www.Cascadepest.com
today!

Bed Bugs Coming? Landlords Liable?

With their re-entry into American life, bed bugs have hit hardest on the east-coast as of yet.  We have them here in the Northwest alright, but the numbers back east have resulted in new landlord laws for when tenants move in to find bed bugs...but how do you know who brought them in?  NewHampshire law makes landlords liable in some cases...
read full article

Termites Essential to Humanity

The very voracity of termite's hunger both threatens our homes and saves the planet.  Obviously, we need to control those that attack our homes, but we need them in the wild.
Researchers have fount that termites throughout the planet are essential to the life cycle of soil.  The lack of them would shut down much of our agriculture overnight.
So, we need to keep a balance by controlling those right around our homes yet protect those in agricultural, grasslands and wildlands.  read here for more information

Image of termites