A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
This guy & his buddies were chowing down on a small oak tree is my yard. I want to find out if it is one that needs to be squashed or left to complete it's life cycle.
small oak tree
I think trees usually recover, but your county probably has an agricultural extension office that could tell you for sure.
So I have one comment comparing these caterpillars to cute bunnies and another saying they are against the death penalty (not sure how that can be compared to eradicating pests) cute bunnies in Australia are non-native invasives and brown snakes in Guam are non native invasives. I don't really care about your personal opinions on anything - all I want to know are the FACTS concerning this particular animal. What is it? Is it a non native or is it introduced from another part of the US and not native to the south east and therefore needing to be killed to prevent even more infestations. If you don't have that information then don't post on this request for ID. I signed on to this site because I thought I could get information on plants and animals that I can't identify. If I have made an error in my judgement then let me know & I will remove myself from the group.