Games city takes aim at crawlies

BEIJING - China's capital is under attack from twin plagues of termites and moths, prompting fears for the city's antiquities and concerns that Beijing's "Green Olympics" could be turned brown.

Workers renovating Beijing's 700 year-old Forbidden City discovered termites burrowing through the wooden structure, the China Daily said. "High-tech devices" detecting and infecting the bugs with a "special powder" had been employed.

Wars against termites and moths are just two of the pest control initiatives Beijing has launched. Others have targeted rats, fleas and lice at gymnasiums and athletes' villages.

The American White Moth, a ravenous plant-eater, was found in Beijing's Temple of Heaven Park, the Beijing News said, weeks after forestry officials reported a plague in Beijing's surrounding hinterlands. "If the moths aren't controlled quickly, they could even threaten Beijing's Olympics," Wu Jian, a forestry official, said.

A single moth can spawn 30 million to 200 million descendants in a year, with larvae capable of stripping a healthy tree of foliage in a matter of days. Salvation may come in the form of larvae-eating bees, the moth's natural predator, the paper said.

- REUTERS