2 Trapped in Santa Ana : State Launches Search for Fruit Fly Infestation

Two male Mexican fruit flies have been captured within the past month in Santa Ana, and the state has launched a search, state officials said Friday.

A door-to-door hunt began Friday in the neighborhoods around Bishop Street and Lingan Lane, where the flies were spotted in traps, Gera Curry, spokeswoman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture, said Friday. The second fly was found Thursday ; the first was found March 22 about 2 miles away.

A fruit fly infestation could devastate California fruit crops and cause losses of more than $100 million, Curry said. “We’re talking about a possible major economic loss, and we don’t want to get it started in California.”

The last fruit fly infestation was in Los Angeles County in 1983 and 1984, and the cost to eliminate it about $2.7 million, Curry said. Fruit crops were not damaged.

Curry asked that residents comply when state employees ask to cut fruit growing in their back yards “to determine whether there is a breeding population.”

Anyone in the area who notices worms or maggots in a piece of fruit from a back-yard tree should call the Orange County agricultural commissioner’s office, (714) 447-7100.