A stranger wrecking nature.

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My heart aches at the thought that this old and beautiful London Plane tree might also have to be cut down.
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We have an infestation of Pothole Borer Beetles that kill the trees, and it is said that we have already lost thousands of trees.

Most of the trees are very old, as they were planted a long time ago, when the areas were still only farmland with no residential residences and town suburbs. Some of the trees also have historical value, such as the first Oak tree planted in the country, that can be seen on one of the wine farms here. Some towns and cities are ear marked with lanes of trees along their major roads and all of the trees are now in danger of being killed.
It is a mind-boggling problem and I will show you some other trees that were cut down.

This was once a huge and beautiful tree very similar to the tree in the first photo, Now it lays felled because of a borer beetle invasion.
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This is a detail about the start of the holes that the beetles make along the length of the tree's trunk.
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Look! It is sickening to see how the tree trunk was hollowed out.
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I don't know enough, but those white specks dropping down inside the trunk looked like a nest of the invaders.
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If anyone in another country have had a similar situation and an effective solution to the problem of invasive beetles, then please let me know so that I can forward the information to our nature protection departments.

You can see that the beetles were also busy on this part of the tree.
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All of the wood is taken away to be burned in order to prevent the spread of the beetles.
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As we are nearing winter most of the trees have lost their leaves and one can only wonder how many more trees will be removed across the country.
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So, everything is not hunky dory in nature and the greatest destroyer is mankind. A question is, how did the beetles get to South Africa from South East Asia? There are some possible answers mentioned in the paper that I source cited, and I think that it could only be by the actions of mankind that resulted in the beetles ending up here.
Once again we have caused a major disturbance in nature that is going to cost this country billions to restore.

To swing softly on your back in a hammock in the shade of an old oak tree is a blessed experience. That is if a squirrel doesn't come running over your stomach when you fall asleep in the hammock :)
That's another point to consider, as the squirrels and the other small nut eating animals might soon not have any more nuts available. Soon there will be no more old oak trees to tie a yellow ribbon to.
Sheer devastation as far as I am considered and not a happy post.

And That's All Friends.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.

Thank you kindly for supporting a post on behalf of @papilloncharity

photography infestations devastation invasions damages proofofbrain neoxian vyb silverbloggers
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Truly sad…

Have a great new week Zac!
!PIZZA

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First test done and now waiting for the 3 biopsies of my stomach results.
Now to return home tomorrow to gain strength for the next series of tests on the 18th of May.
Such is my life at present.

Have some !PIZZA for your kind care.

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Hopefully our nature investigators will find a solution, but yes it is very sad to see the big guys being cut up.

!PIZZA

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(Edited)

PIZZA!

$PIZZA slices delivered:
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joanstewart tipped papilloncharity
papilloncharity tipped littlebee4 (x2)
@papilloncharity(1/10) tipped @clairemobey (x3)
qwerrie tipped papilloncharity
littlebee4 tipped papilloncharity
papilloncharity tipped joanstewart
papilloncharity tipped qwerrie

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We got the same issue here in NY with beetles killing trees. I think they kill the maples and oaks here. Our streets used to be lined with them. One by one they're disappearing.

The solution here was to replace them with different trees the beetles didn't like. They also passed laws (after the fact) that you can't transport wood more than 50 miles to help stop the spread. That doesn't seem to work either.

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Exactly the same is happening here, as people are getting desperate, so now they are also planting indigenous trees in the place of the old giants that have fallen.
We also have new laws now that the infected wood may not be distributed. So sad.

!BEER

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These beetles have been making their presence felt throughout the country, it's always sad to witness old trees being killed off in this manner.

Hope someone has ideas on how this mass invasion could be treated.

!LUV
!WINEX

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Very sad indeed Lady Joan, and they have the universities here looking into it, currently putting patches on the trees with some chemicals that might prevent the beetles from entering the tree, but it is not the answer yet. We pray that they will find the solution, as some very old trees are being destroyed.

!LUV
!WINEX

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Bringing untreated wood into a country has had devastating effects, loss of trees has been massive!

Trust all went well over the last two days and you home resting up a wee bit!

!BEER

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So sad, as all things brought into the country should be cleared by customs. Now we sit with this huge problem.

We are back and thank you, so the first thing that I am doing is catching up here.

!BEER

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Coming and going through our customs has always been problematic, as with much else not doing the proper checks and balances.

Good to hear you back catching up once again like everyone enjoying life here without electricity.

!LUV
!PIZZA

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Simply because we do not learn from the other countries with successful border controls.

Thank you and our next power cut is now due in 6 minutes.

!LUV
!PIZZA

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Wow. This is immensely upsetting. So sad to see natural national treasures destroyed like that. 😥

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Upsetting indeed, and I just spoke to another friend about the people here stripping the bark off the trees. We don't only have the beetles, but also the muti gatherers to worry about.

!PIZZA

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Oh my goodness, yes. You'd thing muti gatherers would want to work with nature, not against it.

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It is an old custom, but due to their habit, the trees are dying out and they are forced to go into new areas. Maybe it is their thought that nature has an endless supply and I wonder what they are going to do when there are no more of those special trees.

!PIZZA

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(Edited)

Isn't that our saddest and biggest mistake... Thinking the earth and her bounties are endless 😞🌎🙏

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The way that we are carrying is despicable, and nature is suffering under the hands and actions of mankind !PIZZA

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It's sad to see old grown trees die.

We have the bark beetle here that kills many trees and forests.

And although this beetle is a real plague, there's at least one good thing about them in the forest in the south behind my parent's house: the more trees fall the more sun is reaching the house - sad but true.

!invest_vote

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Greetings to you my friend.
I completed the first test of my iron depletion at the hospital today here in the City of Cape Town.

Yes, I agree with you that it is sad to see the old icons destroyed by the beetles.

Here in South Africa they arrest the people stripping bark from the trees to make muti (medicine). Stripping the bark from the trees causes the trees to die, and that is why it is outlawed in this country.
They have recently arrested 4 guys in a nature reserve as they caught them red-handed stripping the bark.

Blessings and peace to you.

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Hi Zac,

I've read in you rpost that they didn't find anything - hopefully the next test will be better 🙏

It's forbidden here too, but no one uses the barks for medicine, but they cut their names and other things into the tree barks, which doesn't kill the trees, but certainly hurts them and it looks bad - like scars on skin.

Wishing you all the best for positive news nect time 🙏

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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Hive !PIZZA and best wishes for the day. 🙏
As for the beetles -- some travel within the soil and roots of trees (that human move to S.A.). ☘️ I dont think they are capable of self-creation from nothing?...

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Thank you for the !PIZZA and hope that your day is also good.
Nope, the beetles are not capable of self creation, and I read somewhere that they think it came over in loads of firewood from Mozambique, or in the shipping of wooden pallets from South Asia.

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Reading this, I suddenly remembered the fascinating story of an illicit bug immigration, that I learned from a book when I was teenager. Can re-tell, if you're intrested -- i still remember part of details of that !LOLZ case.

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Do you know what the title of the book is? Or maybe you are too old now to remember !LOLZ
If not, then you are welcome to re-tell.

In the meantime, I am doing some research into the problem and here is what the bugs look like.

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O, I still remember very well the title, as it was one of my very faves in time: "Bella Dijour - The Nature's Complaint Book ." It was published in Russian (so the easiest way to find out that story is in my retelling). So...
One tourist returned from Africa. At customs at the airport, his luggage was checked - everything was ok. Suddenly the officer noticed something was strange with the buttons on his shirt. Right before his eyes, the top layer of the button began to peel off. It turned out ... that the buttons were made from coconut wood, where some beetle larvae hided in. The hider have survived wood milling, heat and chemical treatment, varnishing - and if not this occasional detection, if the larvae had chosen a different time to crawl out - there would have been an illegal immigration of a new pest into a new country. 😨 Shit Happens!

...and a bit more !BEER your way to accompany the reading. 🍻

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Wow! What a story and amazing that the larvae decided to crawl out at that critical moment.
Your memory is excellent and of the hundreds of books that I have read, I remember very little. It happens due to age, as the memory banks start to fade.
You deserve a !BEER in my recognition of your superior memory skills.

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Grazie! Well, some things I remember better than others. Actually, I am rather an amnesiac too 😄 !LOLZ

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Well, my biggest problem is with people's names. They introduce themselves and 10 minutes later I have forgotten their names. Then I also cannot remember where I put things and at times I get into the shower with my glasses, or my cap on 😁 !LOLZ

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