Town hall in Spain has novel plan to tackle plague of processionary caterpillars, but is it a batty idea?

José Rodríguez Cámara

Alhaurín de la Torre

Monday, 31 March 2025, 20:51

Alhaurín de la Torre town hall in Spain's Malaga province has launched a plan to use bats to combat the plague of the processionary caterpillars, which has already forced the town hall to take measures such as intensive fumigation and closure of parks. The strategy consists of encouraging the presence of the flying mammals - the moths' natural predators. This is expected to control the reproduction of the processionary at its moth stage of development.

To achieve this, the environment department will install 15 nesting boxes in different green areas to serve as shelters for the bats: Pinar de Taralpe (3), the Cura stream (3), Calle Río Manilva (2) and Calle Río Darro (2). The nesting boxes were created at a children's workshop during last year's Easter holidays.

The first location to test the strategy is close to the primary school. This is a long-term project, the results of which will be known next spring. If the strategy proves to be successful, it will be further extended, favouring processes that don't involve spraying of toxic products to limit the spread.

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In the meantime, however, spraying is still the currently used method in other parts of the municipality. The aim is to prevent the spread of this dangerous caterpillar during heat waves.

The benefits of bats are already being promoted by the Murciélagos Málaga company. The enterprise raises awareness with talks and an immersive video game in educational centres.