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Feds build citizen army to 'attract and annihilate' stink bugs; 100,000 found in a shed


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2534624Washington Examiner:

With just three weeks to go before the start of the stink bug season spreading over 40 states, the federal government is calling out for help from "citizen scientists" to speed its decade-long campaign to find a killer for the smelly Asian bug that threatens to damage $21 billion in crops like apples and tomatoes.

 

The Agriculture Department's top researcher of the brown marmorated stink bug told Secrets that the feds want homeowners in the stink bug belt to count the pests on their houses every day from Sept. 15-Oct. 15 and detail the surroundings and even color of their siding.

 

"If we understand more about that, then maybe we can manipulate their behavior a little bit more," said Ag's Tracy Leskey, who heads the "Stop BMSB" project, and will collect the information.

 

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She said the goal is to come up with a lure for farmers and homeowners to draw the stinkbugs to a death bait.

"If we can understand that," she said of what attracts the pests, "then we can think about ways to attract them to a particular location and annihilate them." Leskey called it an "attract and kill" plan.Scissors-32x32.png


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