You've probably heard about this quickly spreading email about Formosan termites ready to eat your house. Supposedly these very hungry termites are hiding in bags of mulch from Hurricane Katrina ravaged areas like New Orleans. We received lots of emails from concerned viewers inquiring about the warning.So we got to the bottom of the story with one of Texas' top termite experts - Dr. Roger Gold of Texas A&M (Read his full interview with us). He says the email is a hoax, in fact his department had sent out a warning that morphed into the current email after mass forwardings.
"It's amazing to see how things have been added to emails and implications and now there are certain stores that have been mentioned," he said. "The whole thing has been interesting that the new technology we have can basically create a problem rather than solve it."But Dr. Gold does say to be cautious of where you buy mulch. Buying it off the bag of a truck might not be the best idea. As for the Formosan, yeah, they are bad and already here.
Here is more on the Formosan termite.
Special thanks to Emily Allen, of College Station ABC affiliate KRHD, who helped us shoot the Dr. Gold interview and news director Dennis Kinney. CONTACT: Leave me a Houston or Texas media news tip | COMMENT: Click to leave your thoughts on this post here
