A tiny, yet destructive insect which can decimate everything from avocados to strawberries has been found in Ventura County, prompting a 70 square mile quarantine.
"The threat of the Queensland Fruit Fly is extremely broad, because it can make its home in a variety of different crops," said Maureen McGuire, who is the CEO of the Farm Bureau of Ventura County.
"It lays its eggs in a lot of different fruits and vegetables, making them unsuitable for selling in the grocery store."
She says they impact everything from strawberries and citrus to avocados
The Queensland Fruit Fly is tiny, only about a quarter of an inch in size. It looks like a red and brown wasp. They’re native to Australia, where they cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage a year. But, you’ve probably never heard about them before, because up until now, they haven’t been an issue in the U.S.
"This is the first time a quarantine has ever been called for this insect in North America." said Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner Korinne Bell.
Two of the flies were discovered in Thousand Oaks neighborhoods. It prompted the quarantine covering most of Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village, as well as parts of Moorpark and Simi Valley.
The state is heading up quarantine efforts. The County Agricultural Commissioner says one of the biggest impacts for homeowners is that you can’t take fruit from backyard trees out of the zone.
Ventura County Supervisor Jeff Gorrell says residents are being asked to watch for backyard fruit infested with what appears to be maggots.
"Our community is the most important partner in eradicating a vector like this, because we find this fruit fly in the backyards of homes," said Gorrell.
Bell says the focus is on keeping the fruit flies from spreading into Ventura County’s multi-billion dollar agricultural industry. There are a few farms in the quarantine area which are already being impacted.
How did the fly end up in Ventura County? Ag officials think someone may have brought a piece of contaminated fruit with them from overseas.
Ventura County now has two major insect pest quarantines in effect. There’s a 100 square mile quarantine in the Santa Paula area for the Asian Citrus Psyllid. The tiny insects can transmit a bacterial infection which is deadly to citrus trees. More than a dozen trees with the disease have been uprooted, and destroyed in efforts to keep the infection from spreading.
