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Asian Long-Horned Beetle Once Again A Long Island Nuisance

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A bad bug is raising its ugly horns on Long Island once again.

After it appeared the Asian long-horned beetle was being eradicated from the tri-state area, the bug seems to be making somewhat of a comeback in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, WCBS 880's Mike Xirinachs reported.

Joe Gittleman leads the eradication efforts on Long Island.

"We are targeting, at this point, an additional 4,500 trees along the Southern State Parkway," he said.

As CBS 2's Carolyn Gusoff reported in June, hundreds of trees have already come down across Long Island and thousands more are expected to face the same fate.

Unfortunately, Gittleman says, tree removal is the best means of control, adding the bug has expensive tastes.

"This beetle attacks living, healthy, hardwood species," he said.

Asian Long-Horned Beetle Once Again A Long Island Nuisance

Gittleman says if you see one, report it to the State Agricultural Department.

Report Infestations: Beetle Busters | Asian Longhorned Beetle

Experts thought that they had won the fight against the pest five years ago, but a resident on a West Babylon street spotted a live beetle last year and the fight began anew, from square one.

"My feeling is, they never went away. We just missed them," Cornell University Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann said, "It's definitely disappointing and we just need strong efforts to eradicate this."

Crews were out in force inspecting trees in Babylon, Huntington, and Oyster Bay, 500 infected trees have already been chopped down.

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