A prickly problem

I have no idea how it came to be there in the first place but I do know that the Arizona Cactus has been a problem on the Sierra de Orihuela for some time.

Numerous attempts to eradicate or at least control the spread of this invasive species have been made. The last attempt cost 500,000 euros and yet still the cactus threatens to take over. In 2008, they managed to remove 3.000 kilos of the plant but the effort was not maintained and so the cactus came back.