Another Day Off From School

Poison caterpillars -- that's one I've never heard...

An outbreak of poisonous caterpillars in Germany has led to school and kindergarten closures, municipal authorities said.

Contact with the stiff-haired spines of oak processionary caterpillars, which have multiplied by the thousands in recent days in trees in the central state of Hesse, can lead to skin rashes and asthma attacks, a spokesman for the town of Dreieich said.

On Tuesday, a local day care center was shuttered and a school in the town of Roedermark Ober Roden closed for two days in June as a result of the outbreak.

Exterminators dressed from head-to-toe in protective gear have set to work destroying and removing the cocoons from school yards in the area.

Well, I guess it's better than closing schools early because it's too hot.