Meet the six-pack that's fighting back against the Spotted Lanternfly invasion in the Cleveland area.
Watch the dogs at work below:
The MetroParks has six dogs who are specially trained to sniff out Spotted Lanternfly egg masses, which they demonstrated Monday at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
The dogs are all different breeds, including: a German Shepard, a Cardigan Welsh Corgi, a Black Lab, an Australian Shepard mix, a Danish Sweedish Farm Dog, and a Belgian Sheepdog.
Their handlers are all official volunteers with the Cleveland MetroParks.
Adult Lanternflies lay eggs in trees and other hard surfaces in October.
The dogs go to work during the winter months identifying the egg clusters, which the handlers then destroy before they hatch in the spring.
"The dogs have helped natural resources staff destroy, over the past two years, 10,000 egg masses, which is up to half a million eggs that would've hatched into Spotted Lanternflies," said Adam Regula, climate resilient forest manager for the Cleveland MetroParks.
As for what we can do, Regula said first and foremost, if you see one, squish it.
"But, we're going into the dormant season when we're going to be scraping egg masses, and that can help a lot because that stops next year's population," said Regula.
He also said to inspect your furniture before storing it for the winter season.
"If you're moving anything this winter like trailers or lawn furniture, check to make sure that you aren't transporting those egg masses so we can stop the spread elsewhere," said Regula.
The Spotted Lanternfly's preferred host is the Tree of Heaven.
Regula said if you have one in your yard, you should have it removed.
"Get rid of that, and you'll help reduce the survival year to year," he said.
Regula said fighting the invasion will probably be an ongoing effort because we'll probably always see new waves. But he said they have seen some success in reducing infestations around certain areas with these mitigation efforts.
This past winter was our coldest in a decade, which zoo officials say helped kill off a lot of egg masses.
Regula said you can get to your nearest MetroParks nature center to register for a lampshade trap. You will then be contacted for pickup. Regula said the traps are effective tools for collecting and then destroying large numbers of egg masses.
The Cleveland MetroParks received a grant from the state to provide the funding for the traps.
