Dear Editor:

There has been a terrible thing happening this spring – the green caterpillars have been stripping many trees of their leaves around the areas of Midcoast Maine. They have been eating and stripping the leaves on a lot of oak, poplar, apple and some of the birch trees.

It is a disaster here on Van Horn Road across the road from my home. We have to look at bare trees many months throughout the year and with summer just about here, I know I hate seeing bare trees. It is possible that these caterpillars could kill thousands of trees in the next few years if something is not done about this devastating situation. Some of my bushes are already stripped of their leaves. These caterpillars are worse than the brown-tailed moths.

There are also a lot of fire ants around here now. I had to spray and kill a nest of these awful, stinging ants just two weeks ago.

I love nature but not these terrible insects. I hate ants, caterpillars, black flies, mosquitoes and, most of all, ticks.

What I love most about winter is we don’t have to put up with all these terrible critters.

Bob Moore Jr.

Ocean Point