Mark Megahan
The state fair is a huge event, especially for folks in a rural community. Along with the rides and games are the various contests and competitions. People take their entries very seriously as they compete against friends and neighbors for prizes in all sorts of categories. One Kansas lad was thrilled to pull in a second place blue ribbon with his bug collection but never in a million years would have thought it could spark a federal investigation.
Feds swarm state fair
The unidentified boy and his family aren’t in any trouble. He didn’t even lose any points for not knowing that the lanternfly he properly identified in his collection is an “extremely invasive” insect.
The judge knew and that’s the important thing. The etymology competition at the fair is run by the local 4-H and their well trained entomology judge quickly identified the insect. Thankfully, it was long dead and in a “critter box.”
Fair Board Member Gregg Hadley is also a research director at Kansas State. He explains that the “child who submitted the specimen” thinks the extremely invasive species “came in on a camper.”
The first thing they did after they handed out his award was call the USDA. Their Animal and Plant Health Services rapidly “launched an investigation into the matter.” They wanted to know where it came from and how it got to Kansas. Not all bugs are good bugs.
When the investigators showed up to interrogate the boy, he told them he found “the insect dead on his family’s patio in May.”
According to National Policy Manager of USDA APHIS Erin Otto, “lanternflies usually populate in July.” That indicates that “the insect died last year.” Another big clue was by the time it got to the fair judge it was “worn and desiccated.”
Havoc on plants
The reason for the big deal is that the Chinese bugs wreak “havoc on over 70 different species of plants.” They cause deadly mold. “Mainly the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey have borne the brunt of the fly’s destruction.”
They’ve spread a lot further though. In those states, things got so bad that residents “in areas under quarantine are encouraged to follow a checklist before driving their vehicles to another county to reduce the spread of the eggs and the bugs.” The one at the State Fair in Kansas probably came from Ohio.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Agriculture is adamant that if “you see a spotted lanternfly, it’s imperative to immediately report it online or via phone by calling 1-888-4BADFLY. Especially if you are not inside the quarantine zone.”
Before you take it to the fair or anyplace else, “Kill it! Squash it, smash it. Just get rid of it.” They “will lay egg masses with 30-50 eggs each. These are called bad bugs for a reason, don’t let them take over your county next.”
When the bug came over from China in 2014, it hit Pennsylvania first, causing “widespread destruction at vineyards, orchards, farms and forested areas.” Between then and the time one ended up in a State Fair bug collection it had “spread to New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Ohio and Vermont.”
The young bug collector was at least glad to hear he did farmers a favor. Wade Weber, state leader for the Kansas 4-H program, praises, “he has alerted us to a threat we weren’t aware of, and we’re really thankful.”
