Twenty-one children from Ferragudo’s primary school had to be taken to hospital on Tuesday (February 14) after coming into contact with dangerous pine processionary caterpillars.
The children, all under 10, showed signs of allergies after “playing” with caterpillars that fell from some of the school’s pine trees, a school source told Correio da Manhã tabloid. None of the cases, however, were serious.
According to CM, the trees were recently treated to kill the caterpillars but whatever was sprayed on them proved “insufficient”.
In a bid to solve the problem once and for all, Lagoa council plans to remove all pine trees from the borough’s schools.
They will be replaced with other “native trees” as part of the town’s ‘Green Cork’ project.
Pine processionary caterpillars can prove lethal to animals, so dog owners particularly should be very aware that they are once again in evidence.
