In the Lanternfly War, Some Take the Bug’s Side

Lee Weiss, 31, saw a spotted lanternfly and immediately started to destroy it.

He scoops the creatures up. He hides it from anyone who might want to kill it.

Mr. Weiss is a conscientious objector to the insect. Some people are vegan who don't like killing pests. Others don't think lanternfly pose a threat, or that they have been repulsed by the glee surrounding lanternfly destruction. Some people have been fighting the lanternfly for years, but have just given up.

lanternfly are too cute to be killed.

In Pennsylvania, the gray-and-red-winged planthopper from China first appeared. The United States Department of Agriculture says that it has grown as an agricultural threat in at least 11 states. Lanternfly damage could be hundreds of million of dollars, according to several studies.

Scientific models predict that the bugs will reach California's wine country by the decade.

In order to fight back, state and local officials have enlisted the help of their citizens. The campaign against the insects has been framed as an act of civic duty by authorities in battlegrounds such as New York and New Jersey.

In New York, Brooklyn summer campers engage in lanternfly hunts and the state park preserve on Staten Island hosted a squash tournament to stamp out the invaders. A New Jersey woman threw a pub crawl and a Pennsylvania man created an app that tracks users' kills.

Mr. Weiss, a former instructor of Buddhist philosophy, has not been able to destroy a lanternfly. Mr. Weiss said that it was phrased in moral terms. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture wants people to kill the bugs by reporting them. It said to squash it, smash it and get rid of it.

The New York State Senator held up a picture of a spotted lanternfly and called for more federal funds to be used to fight the disease.

The lanternfly was first seen on Staten Island. Mr. Schumer warned that areas from Central Park to Long Island's wineries could be at risk. The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets is asking for the public's help in finding the bug.

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Jody Smith has declined. Mr. Smith is a vegan and will kill roaches in his apartment in New York City. State-endorsed bloodlust and the sense that they are disposable make him uneasy.

Mr. Smith said that if someone said they had to kill all the Pomeranians, people would feel differently about it.

Mr. Smith was encouraged to keep on smashing by a spokesman for Sen. Schumer. If you feel that way, you can report them to New York State.

They say sympathy for the lanternfly is misguided. Chris Logue is the director of plant industry for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. The damage this species can do is real.

She said that they couldn't take the chance.

The lanternfly was defended by the people for the ethical treatment of animals. If it involves killing any living being, no matter how small or unfamiliar, the advocacy group advised people to carefully consider their actions.

Ms. Cryar said that any issue involving animals and nature needs to be carefully examined to ensure that any drastic action taken is the least harmful one.

Karen Charles has gone out of her way to avoid hurting the lanternfly despite her dislike. Ms. Charles was playing with her two-year-old daughter on the playground slide when she found her way down the ladder blocked by two lanternfly She said that she didn't want to stomp on the bugs.

She said that stopping her was a mixture of fear and pity. Ms. Charles said she hated them but felt bad for them. She squeezed down the slide with her child.

The lanternfly advocates often do so in secret. The lanternfly sympathies of Catherine Bonner, a Temple University student in Philadelphia, are only shared with her close friends.

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The bugs don't want to be intrusive, they are just living their own lives. If I started existing somewhere I wasn't supposed to, everyone would kill me.

Ms. Bonner is an ardent fan, but she is ambivalence about her advocacy. She said she felt like she was evil because she knew they were bad for the environment.

Lanternfly defenders argue that the widespread and costly destruction the bugs are capable of has not come to fruition. Lanternfly do not seem to be able to kill mature hardwoods. Shannon Powers said that they are not to be underestimated. She said that some vineyards in Pennsylvania have lost most of their crops to insects.

The yards looked like they had been burned to the ground.

How effective is all the smashing? The bugs have grown despite multiyear pro-squash campaigns. Eradication efforts that focus on the insect's ability to reproduce are the most likely to make a difference.

Anne Johnson is a PhD student in the department of entomology at Pennsylvania State University and she studies lanternfly eggs.

She loves insects and doesn't like to kill them. The spotted lantern flies are ours to take care of. We have to fix it.