Vilnius city municipalities in the near future, specialists will seek to investigate what percentage of ticks spread dangerous diseases, utility workers will be obliged to mow public spaces more carefully.
As the vice mayor told BNS Valdas Benkunskas, so far there are no plans to continue the experiment carried out last week at the initiative of the business, when these dangerous arachnids In Vingo Park collect with special traps.
"In two days, more than 60 ticks were caught with these traps. Tick populations are much higher where the grass is taller. This was seen after the first day, when the empty boxes were moved deep to the forest floor - on the second day, more than 50 of them were caught. In the next stage, when the ticks are caught, we will want to examine them for tick-borne encephalitis infection, we will draw conclusions," BNS said. V. Benkunskas.
"Obviously, the only way to keep ticks off the tracks is to cut the grass," he added.
According to the vice mayor, the ticks collected by ten special traps were destroyed.
Specialists of the Public Health Office of the municipality will catch ticks using simpler means - sweeping the grass with a sheet.
According to V. Benkunskas, it is important to find out what proportion of ticks are infected, because "there is a widespread legend that there are a lot of infected ticks in Vingios Park".
"Everything is definitely not in order, although the contracts with the service providers clearly stipulate that the height of the grass must not be higher than 10 centimeters in public spaces where there are areas mowed by the municipality, the service providers do not always fulfill these conditions. The municipality will demand that the services are provided as specified in the contracts, and monetary sanctions will be applied accordingly if this is not carried out," the vice mayor asserted.
In Vilnius, municipal companies take care of managing public spaces.Beam", companies "VSA Vilnius", "Stebulė".
This year, by the end of July, 99 people fell ill with tick-borne encephalitis in Lithuania - 38 more than last year during the same period, two people died.
Author: Ignas Jačauskas
