Vintage Clothing Stolen…Don’t Mind The Bugs!

There are always a variety of thefts reported from cars and people’s homes during the holiday season.  Sometimes surprising items are taken from other locations as well.  The Albany Democrat-Herald reported on November 30, 2012 that thieves made off with some interesting items that belonged to the Linn County Historical Museum in Oregon.

The museum is now on the hunt for missing items that were stored in a deep freezer owned by the city.  Described as irreplaceable to the museum, but not terribly valuable to the thieves, various historical clothing pieces were taken from the city owned freezer which was locked up tight.

The historic clothing pieces date back to World War I and the Spanish-American war.  The items were placed in the freezer to kill the cloth moths and carpet beetle larvae that were nibbling away at the museums treasured items. Unexplained holes were found in the various pieces of fabric and a further investigation revealed that insects are the cause of the problem.

Cloth moths and carpet beetle larvae will cause significant damage to fabric items from all time periods.  Cloth items that contain food particles or perspiration may not be detected by humans, but these critters find them to be a feast.  It should be noted that these pesky bugs are not attracted to the synthetic components found in many modern day fabric pieces, but fabrics that contain a combination of synthetic fabrics as well as natural fabrics can harbor these pests.

Reports are that some of the items have been found in a local park and in a trash can, but some are still missing.  Perhaps the thieves played dress up and encountered the larvae crawling on their skin.  Now that would be a great pay-back for their thieving behavior!

Carpet beetles and cloth moths can be avoided by using moth balls, but they not only have a horrible pungent smell, they can also damage any fabric goods and plastics that they come in contact with.  A Monmouth County pest control professional can rid your home of these pesky insects.


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