GULF BREEZE - State agriculture inspector Laura Ooms knew at first glance something was seriously wrong with a couple of prickly pear cactus plants in the garden section of a Wal-Mart in this Pensacola suburb.
"They were quite ridden with worm holes," Ooms said. "It wasn't one little worm hole. There were several holes in them. They were oozing."
She cut one cactus open and inside saw red-orange caterpillars with black spots, the larvae of Cactoblastis cactorum, commonly known as the cactus moth.
Native to South America, the gray-brown moth is a minor pest in the Southeast, dining on a few ornamentals and native species, but it could cause economic and environmental havoc in U.S. border states and Mexico.
That's where it is headed, and infestations discovered across the Panhandle in the past couple of months show that it is gaining speed, scientists say.
The invasion began 14 years ago in the Keys. Since then, the moth has eaten its way up the eastern seaboard to Charleston, S.C., and along the Gulf Coast to within 4 miles of the Florida-Alabama state line, said Ken Bloem, a U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist in Tallahassee.
The moth's rapid advance is particularly worrisome in Mexico, where prickly pear cactus is a cultural icon and an economic mainstay.
"We eat cacti, we produce pharmaceuticals with cacti, we export cacti," said Jorge Soberon, executive secretary of the Mexican National Commission on Biodiversity. Cactus is a $50-million to $100-million a year industry in Mexico, which has 56 prickly pear species.
Many people also rely on it for subsistence, Soberon said. Prickly pear fruit can be made into jam and syrup, and the plant is commonly boiled or pickled.
Environmentally, cacti prevent erosion and are a habitat and food source for animals and birds.
The cactus moth is a proven killer. Prickly pear planted in Australia as a natural cattle fence grew out of control and took over 16-million acres, but it virtually was wiped out after the moth was imported in 1925. The female lays sticks of eggs that look like cactus spikes. When they hatch, the caterpillars bore holes and begin eating the cactus from the inside out.
Ooms is the only inspector in a three-county area and ordinarily visits nurseries and plant dealers just once a year.
Those selling citrus trees, such as Wal-Mart, are inspected every 60 days, but Ooms said that still leaves a big gap.
She triple-bagged the infected cacti before having them compacted, but Bloem and other researchers usually do nothing more than document infestations.
"Right now, we, unfortunately, sort of leave it there" because the cacti often are in people's yards and state parks, Bloem said. "They haven't been real happy if we just start chopping up the infected cactus."
