Overview
- Local authorities have closed or cordoned off park areas, playgrounds and multiple sports facilities while specialist firms remove nests to protect the public from the moth’s toxic hairs.
- The oak processionary moth’s larval hairs contain the protein thaumetopoein and can cause skin rashes, eye irritation, breathing problems and, in rare cases, severe allergic reactions in people and pets.
- Municipal crews and hired contractors are using protective suits and vacuuming equipment to extract nests from trees and will keep affected areas closed until danger is reduced.
- Garden advisers say many other spring caterpillars such as webbing moths cause dramatic defoliation of fruit trees but pose little direct health risk and can be managed with mechanical removal, hygiene, leimringe or targeted biological treatments.
- Experts link the unusually large outbreaks to warm, dry conditions that favor mass larval development, while unverified claims that larvae were deliberately placed have circulated and are contested by officials.