National stink bug story features UCCE expert's quotes

Epoch Times, a website touted to reach 35 countries in 21 languages, released a national roundup about brown marmorated stink bug which featured colorful quotes from Chuck Ingels, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Sacramento County.

Reporter Zachary Stieber opened the story with the new stink bug find in Sacramento.

“This is one of the worst invasive pests we’ve ever had in California,” Ingels said.

Ingels painted a word picture to help readers envision the BSMB's unsettling behavior during the cold winter months.

“These bugs aggregate in such numbers that there are reports of people using manure shovels and five-gallon buckets to dispose of them,” Ingels said. “The strong, unpleasant odor the insects emit when disturbed makes cleanup still more daunting.”

The story said BMSB was:

• The "bug of the year" in Dayton, Ohio
• Seen in “exploding numbers” at research plots in central Maryland
• Found in high population densities this year in nearly every region of Oregon
• Living in highest concentrations in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia

Stieber also embedded the following YouTube video of a stink bug nymph feeding on a green tomato:

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