Israel fights swarms of locusts from Egypt
Israel is battling a swarm of locusts from Egypt to prevent crop damage in the south of the country.
Locust clouds darkened skies some three weeks before the Jewish Passover holiday that recalls 10 Biblical plagues, one of them locusts, that struck Egypt during the exodus of Israelite slaves.
The insects covered nearly 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of desert overnight, officials said. Israel sprayed pesticides from the air and land to try to kill them in the early morning before dew on their wings dried and they could take off again.
Miriam Freund, director of plant protection in the Agriculture Ministry, called it a "medium-sized swarm" and her office set up a hotline for farmers to call in case they see it advance.
"We hope our actions are effective," one of the pilots of a plane spraying the fields said on Army Radio. "Let's hope the damage will be minimal."
Locusts, which wreak havoc by eating crops, last invaded southern Israel in 2004, said the pilot, who gave only his first name, Shai.
Potato farmer Pavel Rosenfeld, who lives about 3 km (2 miles) from the Egyptian border, said 30 to 40 percent of his land had already been damaged.
"Everything depends on the wind ... and we are praying that the wind doesn't bring us more," he said on Army Radio.
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Paul Pulis
Mar 10th, 08:10
The Exodus in reverse!
Vincent Bezzina
Mar 8th, 06:56
The story is interesting because it's straight from the bible. However plague of locust is quite common and in many parts of the world, they quite simply eat the locust which apparently are considered a real treat. The worst locust plagues in history actually occurred in North America and this problem persisted until the breeding grounds where located and eventually destroyed over the years.
Peter Spiteri
Mar 7th, 07:17
Mhux kullhadd irid jiekol?
Victor Pulis
Mar 6th, 19:04
Where's Moses when you need him?!
Josephine Bonnici
Mar 6th, 18:28
Going home this time from Egypt to the Israelites. :)
Karl Consiglio
Mar 6th, 17:11
Like in the Bible?
C Cassar
Mar 6th, 17:11
Nothing has changed with regards jelly fish populations around Malta except the advent of social media and the internet. Both have alowed massive reporting of anything that people haven't experienced before.
Joe Borg
Mar 6th, 16:49
Pest Control this large is needed to control populations of jellyfish around our island. I find it hard to believe that nothing can be done. We have a biology department at UoM, do they make ecological studies? Can we control predator populations? What has changed in recent years when compared to the early 1990's?
R. Balzan
Mar 6th, 17:08
X'ghandu x'jaqsam?!
Mario Buhagiar
Mar 7th, 23:19
what has changed is water temperature which triggered the reproduction of the jellyfish. There is little you can do about predator population, especially since in some cases e.g. turtles, gender is determined by the water temperature as well. Also Malta can do very little since jellyfish are not only found in Maltese waters, but they migrate constantly.
Please choose the reason of your report below: