The Forest Health Service of the Ministry of Environment and Territory, with the collaboration of the Department of Environment of the Consell de Formentera, make available to the public 200 traps to capture the pine processionary butterflies (Thaumetopoea pityocampa).

The traps work with pheromones that attract the male butterflies and capture them, which helps to reduce the population of males that can fertilise. It is recommended that they be installed in the first half of August before the butterflies emerge from their chrysalises.

In 2007 the insect was detected for the first time in Formentera and in 2016 it was declared a plague. The actions that have been carried out in recent years to control the processionary consist of the elimination of the bags that the caterpillars weave in winter; the capture of butterflies with traps; the installation of refuge boxes that favour the presence of Chiroptera; aerial treatment and occasional ground treatment.

The pine processionary is a defoliating insect that feeds on the leaves of the native Balearic pine (Pinus halepensis), which in itself does not cause the death of the trees it defoliates, but does leave them more sensitive to other agents such as drought or the attack of scoliid insects that can eventually kill the pines.

On the other hand, the pine processionary can cause dermatological and allergic damage to humans and animals as a result of the stinging hairs on the dorsal part of its abdomen.