Odense spends 15 million kroner fighting caterpillars

Odense Municipality has spent 15 million kroner this year fighting oak processionary moth caterpillars, five times last year’s cost and more than the 10 million kroner officials said in July they were prepared to allocate.

The caterpillar became especially widespread in Odense during the summer, prompting strong complaints from residents. A group of citizens demonstrated outside the city hall to protest what they viewed as an inadequate municipal response.

Each caterpillar has about 60,000 urticating hairs. They can cause itching, skin rashes, eye irritation and respiratory problems, and in rare cases serious allergic reactions. The pest became a prominent media story and acquired the unofficial nickname “the caterpillar from hell.” The phrase was added to a new edition of the Danish Slang Dictionary in August.

Odense said Thursday that teams remain on the streets every day and that nest removal from oak trees should be completed by mid-September. As long as nests contain live caterpillars or pupae, crews will continue removing them, vacuuming caterpillars from tree trunks and treating them with heated foam.

The municipality will determine its 2027 response during the autumn. It plans to use its own experience and evaluations, while also gathering information from the Netherlands, Germany and England.

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There are still pest-control teams on the streets every day, and as long as there are nests with live caterpillars and pupae, they will continue removing the nests, vacuuming caterpillars from oak trunks and heat-treating the caterpillars with foam.