This holiday season: Don't pack a pest

County of San Diego

Communications

The holidays are a time for traveling and sending gifts, which means it’s also time to make sure you’re not carrying or shipping something that nobody wants – a pest!

The truth is, the gifts you send and receive could be hiding dangerous, hitchhiking pests or plant diseases that could wreak havoc on our local agricultural industry and our environment.

That homemade fruit basket could have mealy bugs. There could be gypsy moth eggs hidden in that wreath you got from grandma’s house, whiteflies in those hand-picked poinsettias, or a dangerous plant virus in the...