Ah, the holiday season! Friends, family, gifts, travel.
Pests, quarantines, agricultural devastation … Wait, what?!
That’s right. The holiday season is a time for travel and exchanging gifts. But if you’re not careful, you could unwittingly give a ride to a dangerous hitchhiker — like an invasive pest, larvae, or even an agricultural virus.
So remember, if you’re traveling: Don’t pack a pest in your luggage.
It’s easier to do than you’d imagine. Think about how fast we travel in the modern age. You can literally carry a terrible pest or virus from one part of the country — or the world — to another in a matter of hours just by bringing home plant and animal-related items. Maybe that branch you clipped from grandma’s wreath to bring home as a keepsake. Or those bulbs you got in Florida, the kiwifruit you packed in Hawaii, or the citrus you carried in from Asia.
The fact is, if you plan to travel, you should follow a simple rule: if you find something on your trip, leave it where you found it.
Don’t transport any fresh, raw, uncooked, untreated foodstuffs, seeds, beans, nuts, rice, dried fruit, decorative greenery, untreated wood items, or animal products from almost any foreign country. If you think you’ve accidentally packed some plant or animal item away, declare those products when an agricultural inspector asks if you if you have anything in your luggage.
Does it matter? Absolutely. Agriculture is an important $1.82 billion part of San Diego County’s economy. And all you have to do is read the news to realize it can be challenged.
This year we had a quarantine for the dangerous Mediterranean fruit fly in parts of East County and an ongoing quarantine for the Asian citrus psyllid. County Agriculture, Weights and Measures inspectors helped keep Oriental fruit flies from establishing themselves after discovering eight in Escondido, 4S Ranch and Del Mar. And the county continues to battle invasive pests like the gold spotted oak borer and light brown apple moth.
We all love our local and state agricultural products, whether it’s our world-famous avocados, our citrus, grapes, fruits and nuts, cut flowers, ornamental plants or other nursery items.
Agriculture, Weights and Measures inspectors work year-round to keep potentially dangerous agricultural pests and diseases out by inspecting plant nurseries, shipping companies, the U.S. Postal Service, some retail businesses and occasionally Lindbergh Field.
But you can help!
Just remember: Don’t pack a pest!
RELATED VIDEO: Watch the County’s Detector Dog teams sniff out dangerous plants in this 2009 video.
