WE ARE distressed to hear that hungry insects are trying to eat New
Orleans.
The historic city is being attacked by a creature called the Formosan
termite, which arrived from Asia on the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas 35
years ago.
“This species gets my vote for the most important structural pest of the new
millennium,” says Mark Hunter, an ecologist at the University of Georgia. “The
Formosan termite appears determined to consume the historic French Quarter of
New Orleans. These termites destroy creosote-treated utility poles and wharves,
the switch boxes of underground traffic lights, underground telephone cables,
live…
