Defending Twin Falls County against West Nile virus starts with a beat-up plastic scooper.
Once armed with the wooden pole connected to a small plastic container, Ashley Hahn is ready to invade any pond, canal or backyard.
Hahn works as a pest abatement technician for the Twin Falls County Pest Abatement District. A student studying natural resources at the College of Southern Idaho, she’s spending her summer surveying certain areas around the county and collecting live samples to test for West Nile virus.
“The first time I actually collected a sample with a ton of mosquitoes I got so excited I took a photo of it,” Hahn said, flipping through a gallery of images on her smartphone. “I thought it was amazing.”
County officials treat against mosquitoes every spring. However, the chance of mosquito swarms carrying West Nile increases in July and August.
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