Overview
- The Ministry of Agriculture announced the first French detection in Seignosse (Landes), confirmed by ANSES’ national reference laboratory.
- The prefect’s order establishes a 500-meter infested perimeter and a 20-kilometer buffer covering 42 communes in Landes and 10 in Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
- Movement of susceptible conifer wood, bark and plants is banned in the zone, forestry operations are halted, and infested trees will be felled, shredded and burned.
- The outbreak was found by the DRAAF Nouvelle-Aquitaine during routine surveillance in late October on a private two-hectare plot, prompting expanded sampling across the area.
- Officials stress there is no human or animal health risk; the pest kills pines by blocking sap flow and is spread by Monochamus beetles first recorded in EU outbreaks in Portugal and Spain.