Westchester To Give Away Minnows To Help Fight Mosquitoes

WHITE PLAINS, NY — To help keep pesky mosquitoes at bay, the Westchester County Department of Health is giving away free minnows to residents to put in their ponds and water features, along with mosquito dunks, advice and strategies to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as West Nile Virus.

The giveaway will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Minnows will be available at the Westchester County Airport, 2 Loop Rd. in West Harrison.

Residents who plan to pick up minnows should bring a bucket or pail. Minnows will be distributed in watertight plastic bags.

To keep the minnows viable, they should be taken straight home and released immediately into ponds with at least 8 inches of water.

By adding fathead minnows to ornamental ponds that lack fish, residents can reduce the growth of mosquitoes in their own backyards. The minnows eat mosquito larvae, preventing them from maturing into biters. They are not needed in ponds that have fish because the fish eat mosquito larvae, too. Dunks serve the same purpose in birdbaths, rain barrels and unused pools.

Health Commissioner Sherlita Amler, MD, said the hungry minnows can help residents enjoy the outdoors even more as they keep mosquitoes from breeding and biting them in their own backyard.

Any resident can help reduce the mosquito population, even without a pond.

“Mosquitoes can lay their eggs in a puddle, a flowerpot saucer or an old tire, so it’s extremely helpful to clear your yard and the pavement around your home of buckets, pails and toys that collect standing water and pour out any water that remains after it rains,” Amler said.

Large areas of standing water on public property that cannot easily be removed should be reported to the Health Department at 914-813-5000.

For more information, download the “Keep Healthy and Bug Off” brochure.