Toronto fighting back against invasive insect that has killed 800K trees in city

Toronto is on the defensive with a plan to thwart the spread of an invasive scourge that has already killed millions of trees in Ontario, and more than 800,000 in the city alone since arriving in the region back in 2007.

The City of Toronto announced on Friday the latest update in its plan to defend vulnerable ash trees by turning them into deadly traps to massacre local populations of the feared emerald ash borer.

City officials stated in a press release that over 5,300 City-owned ash trees in Toronto will be injected with a protective insecticide that will, hopefully, halt the spread of these highly destructive invasive beetles that destroy trees by boring tunnels through their trunks.

Damage to tree done by Emerald Ash Borer. Elena Berd/Shutterstock.com

Trees are injected with a product known as TreeAzin Systemic Insecticide every two years to ward off borer populations and prevent damage to the at-risk species of tree.

The insecticide targets borer larvae in the spring and summer months, preventing them from growing past this early stage of development where they pose little threat to host trees.

The City acknowledges that the aggressive pest "will never be eradicated entirely," officials state that "these efforts help reduce its population and increase the chances of ash trees surviving."

The plan will be carried out over a roughly three-month period between Sunday, June 1 and Sunday, August 31.