Photo: Chalabala (Getty)
If you thought having to pay to check your bag at an airport was scary, that is nothing compared to the thought of coming across one of the world’s most destructive insects at an airport, too. But that’s exactly what happened recently at two D.C. airports.
The Khapra beetle, which eats its way through grains and seeds and leaves a trail of body parts behind, was found by inspectors at Baltimore-Washington International and Dulles International airports. The “dirty feeder” contaminates food with body parts and hairs.”
Given its troubles, the beetle is the only insect that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection “takes regulatory action” — even when “the insect is in a dead state,” officials said in a statement. The beetle, customs officials added, can have a “potentially crippling economic consequences to grain and cereal exporters.”
At BWI, two live adult Khapra beetles, one dead immature larva and several “cast skins” were found in two pounds of insect-infested cow peas that a New York City resident had brought from Nigeria in late February. Cow peas are similar to black-eyed peas. All of the food that was contaminated with the beetles was incinerated, officials said.
Khapra beetles cannot be fought off with insecticides or fumigants, plus they can actually live for long periods without food. All in all these little a-holes can ruin a lot. So fire is the best way to deal with them. And yet, having to deal with United Airlines is more of a headache.
