Oak processionary posed a health threat. In April 2018, an outbreak of the caterpillars was reported across Greater London and surrounding areas. The moth is now fairly common in Belgium, notably in the Campine but also elsewhere, with fluctuating population numbers from year to year. In 2007 infestations in the Belgian province of Limburg were so acute that soldiers were deployed to burn them. In the Netherlands, the caterpillars are dealt with by biological pest control. Local authorities use, like in Germany, fluids containing bacteria that are toxic only to the caterpillars. These fluids are sprayed onto the infected trees. Furthermore, an
Animal trial Animal trial In legal history, an animal trial was the criminal trial of a non-human animal. Such trials are recorded as having taken place in Europe from the thirteenth century until the eighteenth. In modern times, it is considered in most criminal justice systems that non-human creatures lack moral agency and so cannot be held culpable for an act. Animals, including insects, faced the possibility of criminal charges for several centuries across many parts of Europe. The earliest extant record of an animal trial is the execution of a pig in 1266 at Fontenay-aux-Roses. Such trials remained part of several