Contract out on caterpillars
A NEW contract to provide Orihuela’s service to prevent and control processionary caterpillars has been awarded by the town hall.
It will be provided by Compañía de Tratamientos Levante SL for € 39,600 for three years, with an option to extend it for two more.
The company’s bid was considerably lower than the maximum budget set in the tender of € 66,165.
Councillor for the environment Dámaso Aparicio said processionary caterpillars affect Mediterranean pines, defoliating the trees, stunting their growth, weakening them and making them prone to other infestations or even to drying out.
Their hairs can also produce painful reactions in humans and animals, including irritated skin, eyes and nose, and sometimes serious allergic reactions which pose a danger to health.
The work has started with a preventative phase, with pheromone traps being laid to catch the moths and determine where they are flying.
“This will enable them to better adjust the treatments of spraying biological insecticide with a pneumatic cannon on the areas of pine
woods in the contract in order to exterminate the caterpillars in the first phase of their biological cycle,” he said.
Endotherapy ( trunk injection) will be used on those pines where it is required due to their height or location.
Then if there are still some egg sacks left in January or February, the company
will cut them down and dispose of them, unless they cannot be removed for technical reasons in which case ‘ interception rings’ will be fitted to prevent the caterpillars from dropping to the ground.
“The town hall will also respond to all warnings it receives about this problem,” he added.