BEWARE PROCESSIONAL CATERPILLARS

Today our dog had an encounter with some processional caterpillars which can be lethal to pets and pretty nasty to humans too.  Happily we just ended up €40 worse off, and we still have Kippy - it could have been so much worse.

These caterpillars make their nests in pine trees and when they break out of the nest they travel around in a sort of linked chain - yellowy-brown and black in colour and each individual one about 2.5" long.  

I was walking in the campo and he was running around several metres ahead.  Suddenly I saw him leap in the air and heard a yelp.  I rushed over and saw this "snake" about 1 metre long, and I knew straight away what it was.  I screeched at him and he loped off, and I didn't see him again until I was nearly home (not unusual - he does about 5 kms to every one I do).  When I saw him, he was reeling like a drunk and then vomited up lots of grass and nasty white foamy stuff.  I grabbed his collar with one hand and the mobile with the other and ran for the car while ringing the vet.  Vet said bring him straight in.  Fortunately he wasn't sick again on the way, but as soon as he got into the surgery....!  Anyway, he was inspected and the vet said he had just minor inflammation on the edge of his 'lips', gave him a shot to prevent a reaction, plus some antibiotics and said he was a very lucky dog.

Apparently if the hairs of the caterpillar make serious contact with the tongue, it 'kills' the part it touches and it does not recover.  If much more contact is made, it can cause a major reaction in the mouth and throat, causing swelling and therefore cutting off the air supply.  No prizes for guessing what that means.  We have a friend who cleared some up in his garden recently, wearing heavy gloves, but he still had a violent skin reaction all over his body.

SPREAD THE WORD - these characters mean business and must be stopped:  If you see their cotton-wooly nests in the trees, cut them out CAREFULLY and burn them.  The vet said you can then spray the tree with insecticide if you are not sure if any have actually survived.

In celebration of his survival I have made Kippy my new avatar.

I'm so relieved your Kippy's going to be ok, what a worry. In other Spanish forums I read, people are warning of these caterpillars. 

Taken from THE OLIVE PRESS Andalucia’s Fortnightly News Publication

WOW More - our procession must have been a very little one by comparison!    It is very worrying, particularly when you have dogs that run for miles in the campo and cats that spend most of their time hunting out there but I guess it's like kids - you have to let go....

BTW, thanks for all your help on the siggie - as you see, I finally got there!

Cheers

Jane

I'm very relieved to hear that your dog wasn't affected by these wierd caterpillars too, Damok. There's loads everywhere. Scary, isn't it. How often, as very young kids, did we all pick up a hairy caterpillar that was to be our best friend in a jam jar ?

Actually (we live in Somerset) our friends nearby have a tree that had nests of caterpillars & the nests kept bursting & showering the caterpillars down onto the lawn. My friend always worried about these as she had a young dog. On the subject of caterpillars a few years ago we had lots strip our beautiful tree bare in hours. They grew MASSIVE like 3" long & as thick as my middle finger. Never seen them again & tree recovered. It's a tree that starts off with green leaves which then change colour through to pinks, so pretty.

Wow

U all sound like u had a lucky escape

Were moving to Spain next year and Im worried now about my cats,  Do the caterpillars live in a particular area or are they indigenous to whole of Spain ?

Great pictures to everyone - look v v scary !

Watch out for these processional caterpillars , it's the season for them again. I've just seen this on another forum, local to where I live in Spain.

Update: 'We live in Villa Martin, in the Pau 8 area, we were walking along the off street walk ways. We are constantly on the look out for the caterpillars, but obviously missed them.

Henry is now in the Guardamar Hospital on a drip and were hoping he will pull through. The vet there said he will almost certainly loose some of his tongue and worse that can happen is he may die, but that only happens in about 1 dog in 100. So we can only hope for the best.'

Very traumatic.

Poor Henry thats awful ! Hope he gets better soon.  When is the season for these monster caterpillars as were are coming to Spain with 2 cats and want to be prepared.

Most noticeable from January to mid April the caterpillars are at their most dangerous in mid to late February, when they can often be seen in the evenings going from tree to tree.

Taken from the THINK SPAIN WEBSITE

Poor Henry-I hope he recovers okay.  I can't imagine what that must be like for the animal or the owner.  I'll certainly be looking out for them next year once we're over.

Who would've thought such a little creature could create such fear!!  Caterpillars can be so destructive, my garden gets eaten every year - they love my tom thumbs!

Does anyone know what they actually become, does the danger mean its a beautiful and special butterfly?

Lorraine

Nothing so wonderful, they change into a moth that looks like this.

Strangely enough whilst researching about the Pine Processional Caterpillar in Spain I came across an article from May 2007 that said there were Oak Processional Caterpillars in Oak Trees in Kew Gardens. I've not found anything more recent so maybe they were successful in eradicating them before they spread.

Hi,

An early warning about these caterpillars this year as they seem to be on the move early. I have noticed a few nests nearby (but not near enough to be a concern to our pups) and they are already a good size and the caterpillars have been moving outside the nests.

Time to take care when out and about with your beloved animals.

 Good photo, Jacqui.  I was about to post a warning as we have seen them outside their nests the last couple of days as well. In fact we took 15 out of just one tree yesterday.  Looks like a bumper year, unfortunately.

If you spot them in the tree you need to cut them out with loppers, dropping them straight into a bucket held below and burn them asap.

Just a point but...

Burning them out isnt always the answer because in doing so the troublesome hairs can be released into the air and if breathed in can cause problems to both humans and animals, particularly the narrow nasal passageways of dogs and cats. Skin irritation is another major factor. In animals a vets visit is a priority. See link 2 below.

This lifted from another Site...

What you can do
If you have a problem with processional caterpillars you can call the ‘SEPRONA’ branch of the Guardia Civil on 062 and ask them to come and rid you of the caterpillars. Some information about SEPRONA is available on the web through www.guardiacivil.org although the page is sometimes unavailable.

Most Guardia Civil offices have at least a couple of people available who speak English...and French...and German...not like your average Brit Police station...

The beasties are called 'orugas procesional' in Spanish.

Link 1 is to the website referred to in the previous paragraph, but it is all in Spanish.

Link 2 is to an article in the Olive Press.

We have three hounds and we live in an area known to be affected by these beasties; so far we have managed to keep the dogs and ourselves away from them, but they are a very real problem.

fb

Hi

Does anyone know what months these critters come out and is it just pine trees ?  How about Olive Trees ?

 I agree Foxbat that you have to be very careful burning them: stand well back and only do it if there is no wind.  

Unfortunately in our area Seprona do not seem to want to fulfil their obligations - they say it is now down to the ayuntamientos. However from what we hear the ayuntamiento will not bother with anything which is out in the country, even if it is on the edge of the village.  This is somewhat nonesensical as of course there are not too many pine trees within the village itself!

Rejoe: they are only in pine trees in Spain, at least in the south. I understand that there is a variety which is in oak trees in southern France and possibly also in northern Spain.  They process normally between February and late March - perhaps the very warm winter is why they are already on the move.

Thanks for info

We have them in abundance in the pine trees near our development in Pinares de Mijas in the south.

They were hatching in december so I won't be collecting any more fircones for the fire!

I always wondered when I saw these processions, where are they actually going to ?

They seem so "on a mission" !

I must admit i had never heard of them being dangerous until now !

Thanks for posting everyone.