5 Insects Never Before Seen In This Region Stopped By Border Inspectors
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Inspectors have stopped five destructive insects from entering the country at the Port of Philadelphia.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says inspectors found one of the intruders, a clover leaf weevil, in a shipment of pineapples which arrived from Costa Rica in mid-September.
CBP's Steve Sapp says, however, the most significant was found last March in a container of Costa Rican melons.
"It was determined to be a "first in nation" interception. And that was a species of long-horned beetle, and long horn beetles are very destructive for trees."
He says the four others were determined to be the first ever seen at the Port of Philadelphia.
"They can cause severe damage to crop plants, to the lumber industry, so what you're talking about now is the price to eradicate, to recover, to re-establish whatever crops they are destroying."