Plague of locusts invades France

[emad]

Record numbers of the voracious insects are devouring crops

Alex Duval Smith in Paris
Sunday July 17, 2005
The Observer

In a devastating new twist to the severe drought hitting southern Europe, France is now fighting a plague of hundreds of thousands of locusts which are devouring everything from crops to flowers in village window boxes.

The worst invasion by the voracious insects is centred on Saint-Affrique in the Aveyron region where, for the first time since 1987, hundreds of thousands have hatched in the last week.

An Aveyron cattle and ewe breeder Gérard Laussel expected them to destroy his crop of lucerne which he uses to feed his livestock.

'At the beginning they seem small, insignificant insects but they grow very quickly. They eat everything that is green, leaving only stalks, and when they have finished they leave some kind of scent so the cattle do not want to graze on what is left.'

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1530257,00.html

[charlyvi]

1. OMG! The fundies will run with this!

Dobson et al will have a field day.

[Briarius]

2. Of course they will!

Anyway they can cherry-pick the news to make it seem their apocalypse is coming, they will

[sam sarrha]

4. the end times are here.. but they are GOOD, they are French end times..

[Delphinus]

9. Those were my exact thoughts!

The Repubs are going to be soooo happy!

[msongs]

3. moses is back and practicing sorcery and witchcraft again n/t

[Tellurian]

5. Did anyone mention..

The discerning Locust prefers Republican white meat. <blink>

[sam sarrha]

6. that is what Moses ment by the Plague of ..."Frogs"..??

[Speck Tater]

7. I don't know why they think they have a problem...

Locusts are WAY high in protein and B vitamins. If there's that many locusts they should stop whinning about the crop and harvest the locusts instead.

Why do people choose to starve in the midst of plenty?

Seriously, the key to sustainable survival is flexibility.

[phantom power]

8. Good point, I hadn't ever thought of it that way.

Reminds me of that scene from Hidalgo, when the guy gets set on by locusts, and ends up feeding them to himself and the horse.

It would also be an opportunity to test my theory that you can eat anything, if it's deep-fried.

[Speck Tater]

10. Deep Fried .. OR.. Chocolate coated. :)