'They're really rampant on the patio': Regina restaurants clash with wasps

Summer marks patio season for restaurants like The Lobby Kitchen & Bar in Regina but wasps are cuttingthe season short for customers hoping to enjoy a meal outside.

"They're really rampant on the patio," says Rylynn Kohli, a server at the restaurant. "They're really frustrating and have been stinging people quite a bit too."

Kohli says customers who wish to sit on the patio are often disappointed once the wasps begin to circle around their tables and food. Because of this they almost immediately request to be seated inside.

She says the restaurant has laid four trapsto help put an end to the patio pests but that hasn't led to the outcome they hoped.Kohli says the wasps are still a nuisance for customers.

"We do catch like three or four, but there's just so many," she said.

The Malty National in Regina is alsobeginning to feel the sting.

"We've had a lot of wasps in the last two weeks, they just decided to come out, so they've been buzzing around everybody here on the patio," says co-owner Adam Smith.

Smith says usuallywasps come out later in the summerbut this year he's had to deal with them much sooner than he'd hoped.

He says his restaurant has beentrapping the wasps by filling up trapswith beer so that the insects will be enticed by theminstead of guests'food and drinks. He says they're catching "hundreds if not thousands every week" because of the traps.

Pest-busters noticing wasp uptick

Companies like All-Pro Pest Controlare being asked to come to the rescue and are feeling theurgency.

"It's only going to get worse as the year goes on as the colonies get larger and larger," says owner-operator Mathew Gelowitz

He says by this time of the year waspqueens have laid their larvae for all of the workers, which increases their coloniesand as a result causes an uptick in wasps and calls to his phone.

Gelowitzsays he receives around 10-15 calls a day from desperate businesses and homeowners tryingto rid the insects from their properties.

He says he's noticing more calls this summer than in previous years, attributingthe increase to the warmer temperatures the province experienced this past winter.

"Generally sometimes if the winters are really harsh a lot of those queens can end up dying, but because it was a warmer winter that's the reason why it's a little bit more this year," he said.

As for their aggression, entomologists say this is typically expected toward the end of the year.

"The workers start having less to do and what happens then is they become a little more aggressive, or at least that's the theory, so they start bothering people," says Sean Prager, associate professor in the department of plant sciences at the University of Saskatchewan.

What to keep in mind if you have wasps in your yard

8 days ago

Duration 0:52

Mathew Gelowitz says his pest control company in Regina received up to 15 calls a day from people battling wasps. But if theres no nest in your yard, theres not much exterminators can do.

Prager says waspsalso start becoming more desperate for food, especially once there are fewer plants around.Because of this they often start going after foodon people's plates.

While traps at restaurants like the Malty National can work to help reduce the amount of wasps, Gelowitz says eating indoors for the time being is a good prevention measure.

With files from Radio-Canada's Philippine Francois-Gascard.