PROCESSIONARY CATERPILLARS - pet owners please note

PROCESSIONARY CATERPILLARS

A reminder that these will start hatching out on the coast shortly.   Contact with the hairs causes skin rashes and eye irritations. Susceptible individuals may also develop an allergic response to a protein associated with the hairs of the caterpillar. 

Please keep animals away from them.   As they hatch from their nest they can form a 'ball'

and an unsuspecting pet can easily bite into this thinking it is a toy.   If the pet is small, this can be fatal, or can result in severe damage to the mouth area.  If your pet comes into contact with the caterpillars, please get them to the vet as soon as possible.

Dogs can get too close to the intriguing procession and may pick up the hairs onto their paws, these irritate and so they lick them. Once the hairs are on the lips/tongue they will induce itching, swelling and possibly vomiting. Look out for the symptoms of small white spots in the mouth and on tongue, excessive drooling and/or chomping.  In some cases partial amputation of the tongue may be necessary.

The caterpillars emerge from now until May and then burrow into the ground.  They emerge as moths late summer/early autumn, mate, then build a nest in which to lay their eggs.