Alcoy council preventative action to halt processionary caterpillars

TREATMENTS: Areas of pine trees have been sprayed with biological insecticides. CREDIT: Ayuntamiento to Alcoy

Alcoy council is taking action against processionary caterpillars.
The local authority has been using biological control methods in the areas of the municipality where the caterpillars are found, putting down traps and taking preventing steps like spraying.
Throughout the summer, 34 traps were placed in different locations to trap the males. The result was the capture of 287.
As the council pointed out, given that for each male trapped this prevents between 500 and 1,000 larva, this adds up to stopping the appearance of more than 200,000 more caterpillars.
In addition, in the last week of October and in November, 29 zones with pine trees have been treated.
Tree tops have been sprayed with biological insecticides of low toxicity to humans, birds and mammals. In addition, active insecticides have been injected into pine tree trunks in order that this is transferred to the leaves. Hence when caterpillars chomp on the leaves it kills them.
Among the areas which have been treated are the San Roque, Santa Ana and San Vicente Paul schools, the Joan Canto Music and Dance Conservatory, a number of parks and green areas, municipal sports centres and swimming pools, the municipal fairground, several streets and plazas and the cemetery.
Public Works and Services councillor Jordi Martínez said the caterpillar prevention campaign had focused on the areas used by large numbers of people, also taking into account requests from local residents.
The council pointed out there are outbreaks of processionary caterpillars every year in Alcoy due to the favourable climatic conditions for their development, hence actions against them have to be taken continuously, employing different techniques.

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Written by

Cathy Elelman

Cathy Elelman is the local writer for the Costa de Almeria edition of the Euro Weekly News.

Based in Mojacar for the last 21 years, Cathy is very much part of the local community and is always well and truly up on all the latest news and events going on in this region of Spain.

Her top goals are to do the best job she can informing the local English-speaking community, visitors to the area and the wider world about about the news in Almeria, to learn something new every day, and to embrace very new challenge this fast-changing world brings her way.

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