WSAW News Channel 7
September 16th, 2013
By Clare Kaley
The City of Wausau is taking proactive actions after a NewsChannel 7 report on bed bugs in the city’s center. They’ve hired an extermination company to use trained Beagles to try and sniff out the insects in the City-owned Riverview Towers.
“Its the same technology used to detect drugs, bombs and even skin cancer,” said rick Schoening, a K-9 Scent detection specialist Terminix Wil-Kil Pest Control, “they did the same thing to train to find bed bugs.”
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Highly trained dogs like Max and Daisy use their heightened sense of smell to seek out bed bugs in hotels, homes and apartment complexes. While you may think the human eye is the best bet, humans are only 40% accurate in finding the adult bugs.
“A properly trained dog is going to be in the upper 90 percentile range in detecting all stages of bed bug infestation,” explained Schoening.
While early detection is the most important step, Rick says bringing the pups in after a treatment can be just as important.
“Even after a treatment is performed, we can bring the dogs in and do a validation inspection just to make sure everything is all clear,” explained Schoening, “the dogs do have the ability to detect between live and dead bugs and viable and non viable eggs.”
They key to beating these pesky pests is be proactive and trying to self treat with over the counter remedies may make the situation worse.
“You will kill some bugs, but you’ll do more damage than good by pushing those bugs to adjacent rooms or adjacent apartment units or hotel rooms.”
Rick says the best way to detect bed bugs is by K-9s, but if there isn’t one available near you, call a pest control professional to check your home.
WSAW News Channel 7: Wausau Has Property Searched by Bedbug-sniffing Dogs in Sun Prairie, WI
Terminix Wil-Kil Pest Control is a local Pest Control and Extermination company helping homeowners and businesses with pest issues across WI.