Canadian County Combating Mosquitoes With Dunk Delivery

Canadian County is combating this year's early mosquito season with a brand new program that brings help home.

The Canadian County Health Department already offers free mosquito dunk tablets for residents to pick up if they have standing water, as is the case for many communities. The tablets target mosquitoes by killing larvae, but one county assessor decided to take the offer a step further by simply bringing them where they are needed most.

The murky depths of an abandoned pool in Yukon are breeding trouble.

“Mosquitoes, frogs, snakes,” listed Lueann Walson, who moved in to the house next door last year with her husband.

The couple thought they were in a nice, quiet neighborhood at first. They soon learned otherwise.

“I’ve always been a city girl, but this is just something I’ve never had to deal with,” said Walson.

Plagued by buzzing swarms, she turned to anyone she could for help.

“I place values on properties,” said Canadian County deputy assessor Jeff Brown. “When I came to this house, she was telling me how bad the mosquitoes were from next door.”

Brown realized he and his colleagues were in a unique position traveling the neighborhoods each day, so he got together with the health department to come up with a solution. He quickly got his idea approved.

“I’ll be darned if he didn’t come back the next day and he says, ‘well I got a hold of my boss and he said we could try some of these,’” Walson said.

Brown had brought the dunk tablets along. He was able to legally access the abandoned house as an assessor, and dropped the mosquito killers into the pool.

Canadian County assessors have delivered the discs to three homes so far, and are on the lookout for stagnant water on their daily routes. Bringing the dunk tablets to the source helps those who cannot pick up the discs themselves, and a summer-long supply at the local problem spots could stop to the deadly disease spreaders before they are even born.

“We never will be able to get rid of them,” said Brown. “We know that, but we can control them.”

Brown encourages other counties to collaborate on solutions like these to curb what is expected to be a very active mosquito season. To protect yourself at home, health officials encourage you to practice the four Ds: DRAIN all standing water on your property to eliminate possible breeding grounds, DRESS in long sleeves and pants when in heavily-infested areas, try to stay inside at DUSK and DAWN when mosquitoes and other biting insects are most active, and always wear bug spray with DEET.

For more tips to combat mosquitoes, click here.

If you live in Canadian County and would like assessors to deliver a set of mosquito dunk tablets to you, call El Reno Health Department at (405) 262-0045 or the Yukon Health Department at (405) 354-4872. You can also reach deputy assessor Jeff Brown at (405) 295-6115.