FourSpanishholiday islands have been hit by swarms of locusts, with locals and tourists urged to "stay calm". Clips circulating online capture vast swarms of locusts sweeping across the countryside, with hundreds of insects spiralling through the air in dense, shifting clouds.
Officials acrossLanzarote,Tenerife,Gran Canariaand Fuerteventura maintain that the oversized insects do not pose any risk to people, but warn the situation could escalate if their numbers continue to rise. While the current swarms are manageable, authorities warn that a significant increase could endanger local agriculture, potentially developing into a full-scale infestation similar to the one the islands experienced two decades ago. Francisco Fabelo, Head of Environment Lanzarote's government, said: "The next two days are going to be key.
READ MORE:Brit 'dragged behind a bush and beaten' in horror 'attempted rape' in hotspot
READ MORE:Brit among 19 killed in horror Nepal bus crash named and pictured
Set Daily Express as a 'Preferred Source' to get quicker access to the news you value.
"If they are adult specimens that have arrived exhausted, they will die and nothing will happen. If we see copulations, that would mean that they are reproducing.
"We would have to see it between this afternoon and tomorrow. We already experienced this in 2004 and at the end of the eighties there was another similar episode."
Theo Hernando, Secretary General of the Association of Farmers and Ranchers of the Canary Islands, sought to reassure famers.
He said: "It is common for episodes of winds from Africa, such as those brought by the haze, to have locust specimens. They are blown by the wind and as long as they are isolated cases there is not problem.
"They arrive very weakened, they are not in a position to settle or reproduce. Nature itself takes its course and many times they end up being preyed upon by birds."
Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
