The return of the wasps | The Press

Wasps are starting to make their presence felt again in Quebec, especially in Charlevoix, where SEPAQ had to temporarily close a popular campsite earlier this month.

Ariane Kroll
The Press

In the Hautes-Gorges-de-la-Rivière-Malbaie national park, managed by the Society of Outdoor Establishments of Quebec (SEPAQ), site number 17 of the Pin-Blanc campsite had to be closed between July 28 and on August 5 “because there were many wasps on the site,” confirmed SEPAQ spokesperson Simon Boivin.

For the campers who had managed to book this “magnificent site, on the banks of the Malbaie River”, it was perhaps disappointing, “but it’s really beyond our control”, says Mr. Boivin.

Four reservations were affected and had to be moved, namely that of the campers who occupied the site when the biting insects appeared, and the following three reservations.

There are “a lot of wasps” this year in Charlevoix, notes exterminator Michael Lavoie, who works in the region.

“Usually in June-July I treat a lot of nests, and this year they came in late, early August. »

Mr. Lavoie also sees a lot of wasps “that don’t really have a visible nest” and that gather in various places, especially under docks, from where they sting when disturbed.

Consultations for insect bites are also on the rise in the hospitals of La Malbaie and Baie-Saint-Paul.

Since mid-May, therefore in three months, the Baie-Saint-Paul hospital has already recorded 53 consultations of this type, against 40 in four months last year, show the data provided by the CIUSSS de la Capitale- National.

La Malbaie hospital has already identified 48, as many as in mid-September last year (47).

These data include bites from all insect species.

Back on the terraces

“We are coming to the period when, year after year, wasps will be more present on the terraces, in mid-August”, recalls Michel Maheu, general manager of Maheu & Maheu, which serves Quebec, Ontario and part of the Maritimes.

Since the last winter was harsher than the previous one, the current wasp season is “probably a little less intense” than last summer, he says.

His company has not recorded higher demand in Charlevoix, but the technician who covers the Beauce sector “confirms that it is a big year for wasps in the region”, says Mr. Maheu.

The firm has precisely eliminated a “huge nest” in a shed in Saint-Georges last week, colonized by Germanic wasps which had used this quiet place as a base structure for their own construction.