A Comet, a Cult and a Lady Beetle

What does a comet, a cult and a lady beetle have in common?

A biological control agent release with a very strange twist.

The year was 1997, spring.  I was the lead researcher on two biological control programs as a Post-doc out of UC Riverside, one for nesting whitefly and the other for giant whitefly.  Both whitefly species had accidentally entered southern California from Mexico and biological control was sought as the primary solution for their management.  During 1996 and 1997 I made several trips to Colima and Jalisco and found biological control agents for both whiteflies: one a lady beetle for nesting whitefly and two parasitoid wasp species for giant whitefly.  I successfully processed them through quarantine, and was granted USDA approval for their releases and began a program to take the predators and wasps from quarantine and establish them into various sites throughout southern California.  The whitefly pests attacked a variety of plants, but nesting whitefly was particularly bad on citrus.  Citrus is a plant that is important in commercial agriculture and for homeowners in urban landscapes alike.  Therefore, I had to interface with the public in my establishment process.  One such location was a ranchette full of citrus trees in a posh development in Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego county.  The owner contacted me and was quite happy to have me make releases to help quash the whiteflies overwhelming his trees.  I like it when the owner is already on board with biological control and makes first contact.

A few years earlier, on July 23rd, 1995, two amateur astronomers coincidentally observed a new object in the nighttime sky.  Alan Hale, in his driveway in New Mexico and Thomas Bopp, who was out with friends in Arizona, had each observed a heretofore unseen comet heading our way.  It was dubbed the Hale-Bopp comet.  The comet’s discovery and the likelihood that it would be easily visible to the naked eye gained a lot of media attention.  It also got the attention of Do. 

Do, was the pseudonym of Marshall Applewhite.  He, along with Bonnie Nettles, aka Ti, whom he met in 1972, began a spiritual journey that led to the formation of a new UFO religion in 1974 they named Heaven’s Gate.  Ti passed in 1985 but Do continued building their religion on his own.  By the time he had established a headquarters in Rancho Santa Fe in 1996 there were Do and 38 devotees living in a 9,200 square foot mansion dubbed “The Monastery” at 18341 Colina Norte, which happened to be next door to the gentleman with the mini citrus orchard full of nesting whiteflies. 

When Do got news of the comet, he took it as a sign.  His religion focused on transcending this life and achieving a higher level.  Do convinced his followers that the comet was a ship coming to take them to their new higher-level home and it would be here by spring of 1997.  Once here, though, boarding the Hale-Bopp comet required them to perform a ritual suicide that coincided with its closest approach to Earth.  When the time came, the rituals went in three waves of followers beginning on March 22nd and ending on March 25th.  Do, was the 3rd to the last person to go on the 25th with two followers attending to him before taking their own lives.  The San Diego Sheriff's office received word of the tragedy on March 26th. 

The date I had set up for the lady beetle releases was March 24th, 1997.  My colleague and I arrived late morning to the citrus estate with vials full of beetles and a good attitude.  We met with the owner, talked through the process and expectations.  He was keen to learn about the beetles and where they had come from.  We then went about our releases, tapping the vials to dislodge a few beetles at a time onto the whitefly infested trees, with no clue as to the horrors unfolding at the exact same moment in the house just 50 yards away.  I’ve always wondered if Do ever looked out his window to the orchard below that day.  Did he wonder what we were up to?  Were our activities of vial tapping onto citrus trees just another sign reinforcing his visions?  We’ll never know.

When we read the news about Heaven’s Gate and its demise on March 27th, it was startling.  That we were literally right there when it was happening, was creepy.  For me, this will go down as one of the oddest coincidences in biological control history.

The beetles established by the way.  Excellent whitefly control was achieved, but it wasn’t an overnight success.  It took about 3-5 years for the beetles to really start making an impact and bring much needed balance back to our southern California citrus orchards.