News Articles

 
FAA seeks to keep files on plane-bird collisions secret
(March 30, 2009)

WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing to keep secret from travelers its records on how frequently and at what airports commercial planes are damaged by hitting flying birds.

The agency argued that some carriers and airports would stop reporting the incidents for fear the public would misinterpret the data and hold the information against them. The reporting is voluntary.

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Do locusts get depressed?
(March 13, 2009)

Does surge of serotonin cure their blues?

Dr. Robert Buckman Special to the Star

Now we all know that the unpleasant insects called locusts have a habit of getting together in groups of a few billion or so and then swarming over areas of vegetation and eating it all – like flying gatecrashers except that they're non-drinkers and much more thorough in their destruction.

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Unstoppable beetles to kill every city ash tree
(March 13, 2009)

"It's the elimination of a genus from this part of the continent, which is absolutely staggering," said Richard Ubbens, the city's director of urban forestry. "It will wipe out all ash trees."

The emerald ash borer beetle, a shimmering blue-green insect native to parts of east and central Asia, has been eroding the ash population of the northeastern United States and southwestern Ontario for years. Larvae eat serpentine pathways just beneath the bark, which slowly cut off the flow of water and nutrients within the tree; death may take years.

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2 is Better Than 1 - Partnering to banish pesky pests, avoid closure
(March 9, 2009)

"Closed due to inadequate pest control.”

These words invoke fear, embarrassment and guilt in the food service industry. Restaurants, retail stores, hotels and other businesses involved with food service are constantly being scrutinized by public health inspectors to ensure these premises are well managed and free of pest infestation.

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CTV Ottawa: Joanne Schnurr on getting rid of bed bugs (TV interview with Kelly Finlan, Ottawa Branch Manager)
(February 19, 2009)

CTV Ottawa conducts a special investigation on Infestations. Joanne Schnurr interviews Kelly Finlan, Ottawa Branch Manager, on how Abell Pest Control inspects and gets rid of bed bugs. Click on the link to watch the interview: http://watch.ctv.ca/news/clip140825#clip140825.

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Pest control lax, auditor says
(February 9, 2009)

Food inspection agency isn't doing enough to halt invasive species at border, report warns.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is not doing enough to make sure pests that destroy crops and trees stay out of the country, and it focuses too much effort on inspecting goods headed to other lands, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said yesterday.

"The impact that invasive species can have either on biodiversity or on the economy of the country are potentially very significant," Fraser told reporters before presenting her audit in the House of Commons.

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Cockroaches scurry into the intensive care unit
(February 6, 2009)

It sounds like a plot concocted by Alfred Hitchcock: cockroaches nestling inside oxygen masks in a hospital intensive care unit and crawling around in the light panels hanging from the ceiling.

But this was no horror film.

Swiss doctors have reported finding cockroaches in the ICU of the University of Geneva Hospitals in the summer of 2006. When the problem was first discovered, hospital workers spotted about 30 of the reviled bugs, the authors revealed in a report to the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

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Mice get blame for fire that massacred 100 cats
(December 24, 2008)

Harley is one lucky dog. Not only did he survive a raging inferno that killed scores of pets two days ago, but he's just gone to a loving new home. The 15-month-old Shih Tzu was one of nine dogs rescued by firefighters as an early morning blaze gutted Durham Region Humane Society's animal shelter in Oshawa.

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Wild auction offers batty holiday gift idea
(December 10, 2008)

Searching for a truly original holiday gift, one that could bestow a bit of immortality on a loved one or a friend? If so, Purdue University has the goods. The school is auctioning the naming rights to seven newly discovered species of bats and two of turtles.

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Bedbug battle cash urged
(November 19, 2008)

Health officials want city to spend $75,000 to help tenants fight scourge. Toronto's public health department is urging the city to put up $75,000 in emergency funding to help vulnerable adults in the city get rid of bedbugs. But that's just one-time funding, and city officials are predicting that far more will be called for when a special committee tackling the city's bedbug problem reports next spring.

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