Overview
- Local authorities across Bavaria and Berlin reported large, widespread outbreaks on Friday, straining teams that remove nests and forcing parks and some sports grounds to close or post warnings.
- The caterpillars carry microscopic barbed hairs that can cause severe skin rashes, eye irritation and breathing problems in people and dangerous ingestion or inhalation effects in pets, especially cats and dogs.
- Cities and specialist firms are using workers in protective suits with vacuum collection rather than pesticides and are triaging high‑risk public sites first, but some municipalities say waits of days to around two weeks are now common.
- Berlin districts have formally asked the Senate for a coordinated response and to treat the problem as a health issue to unlock different funding and shared resources at an online meeting next week.
- Officials warn that the hairs can be windborne and remain toxic for months to years, climate‑driven warmer, drier springs likely boosted this season’s surge, and private landowners remain responsible for infestations on their property while being advised not to remove nests themselves.