Washington Governor Jay Inslee unwittingly violates apple quarantine, spreading invasive maggots to areas scorched by fire
Out of the apple orchard and into the fire: Washington Governor Jay Inslee accidentally spread apple maggots into fire-scorched regions of his state when he brought along some home-grown honeycrisps on a visit, The New York Times reports. A “local pest control expert” noticed the maggot-infested apples, then set off a mad search to recover the governor’s fruit before the maggots escaped into the wild. (Fun fact: Because of the risk of maggot spread, Washington State has imposed an “apple quarantine,” meaning people are not allowed to transfer apples from western counties to the east.) Inslee unwittingly violated the quarantine—who among us hasn’t?—but luckily many of the maggot-infested apples have been recovered.
