Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
Picture a hairy five-centimetre-long caterpillar that can drop from tree branches onto unsuspecting passersby, has few natural predators, and can coat a tree trunk so thick you can knock them off by the hundreds with a broom. This is the gypsy moth caterpillar, and it is your creepy-crawly nightmare of the summer.
The gypsy moth caterpillar is no joke. The invasive species arrived in Ontario about 50 years ago and has been a periodic menace to both people and trees since the early 1980s. There are outbreaks every seven to 10 years, according to an Ontario government website, although this year’s outbreak follows one last year which caused nearly 590,000 hectares of defoliation, up from about 47,000 in 2019.
“They're kind of creepy to see and the other problem is that they eat a lot. They’re hungry, hungry caterpillars and they can take out huge areas of trees and bushes,” CTV science and technology specialist Dan Riskin told CTV’s Your Morning on Friday.
“Last year… the area of trees that lost all their leaves in Ontario was about the size of Prince Edward Island, so they do a significant dose of damage and it looks like their numbers are very high this year as well.”
To make matters worse, the hairs on their legs can also cause an allergic reaction in some people.
Their eggs will often live in the winter on the bark of trees, but it is in the spring and early summer when the larvae climb the trees to eat on foliage.
Like many successful invasive species, the gypsy moth caterpillar is adept at transporting itself to new feeding areas. One way it does this is by ‘ballooning’, or hanging off the end of a branch on a tiny thread and allowing the wind to carry it to a new area. They also use ground transportation, says Ruskin.
“These egg masses really are the trick. They leave those on trees but they also leave them on sometimes patio furniture sometimes under the bumper of a car and so it's pretty easy for them to move around,” he said.
In a summer where getting outside and into nature seems to be a victory, the arrival of the caterpillars instead now has many worrying how to deal with the infestation.
One option that many have tried is to wrap tree trunks in burlap bands, which can catch caterpillars as they move up and down the tree. Others have wrapped trees in sticky substances such as duct tape to trap the caterpillars.
Then again, there’s also the time-tested approach of chemical warfare.
“There are some interesting pesticides that are based on bacteria that make this species sick, but don't affect other species and are not harmful to humans that are quite exciting and so it may come down to spraying with these biological control methods, but that hasn't been effective yet and so that needs to ramp up,” said Riskin.
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
An Ontario man found out that a line of credit he thought was insured actually isn't after his wife of 50 years died.
After more than a century, Boy Scouts of America is rebranding as Scouting America, another major shakeup for an organization that once proudly resisted change.
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from the overturned hull of a boat off the coast of Indonesia. Until now, little was known about why the boat capsized.
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
A long-simmering feud between hip-hop superstars Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in recent days as the pair traded increasingly personal insults on a succession of diss tracks. Here’s a quick overview of what’s behind the ongoing beef.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.