Same problem! I have a catalpa I planted about 16 years ago and love dearly. It's had increasing infestations of catalpa sphinx caterpillars over the last several years. I'm always inclined to leave nature to rebalance problems, and we do have more parasitic wasps now than there were at first, but the tree is actually starting to show stress now. There were more dead branches this spring than ever before, and what has really alarmed me is that it's had only a handful of blossoms this year. I pulled off as many caterpillars last year as I could, but the tree's very tall now (the link below is to photos of the tree). I am vegetarian and not inclined to offer the caterpillars as bait for fishermen even if I could collect most of them. Just today learned what the pupae look like. Have seen them before but couldn't find any yet today, digging around the base. I guess they've already emerged, since I found one egg mass. All advice sought and appreciated! Serious poison is not an option, but will consider substances of plant origin like neem. Here is a link that might be useful: Catalpa vs. the Sphinx

You are confused for some reason, are confusing the issue. Clearly, the OP had identified the Tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta. Do you not believe that someone new to the gardenweb or new to gardening can utilize the internet in a useful manner? I know...it seems to be rare, but I am proud of David. Sphingidae is a large family of moths. They are ALL correctly called Sphinx moths. Our OP plucked the caterpillars from his tomato plants and went to work finding a proper ID. The caterpillars of most (not all) Sphinx moths are hornworms and as a family, can be found on many kinds of plants. They tend to be host specific. Now, Kimmsr.....there are hornworms that feed on Solanaceous plants. I have never seen Tobacco hornworm on anything but a tomato or datura or pepper. I have also never seen nor heard of nor read of any other kind of hornworm (Sphingidae) on those plants. I hope that you have a better understanding, now. It can be confusing, for sure. But understanding the host /pest relationship with this particular moth family is extremely important. One can pretty much ID a hornworn if the host plant is identified....no picture of the caterpillar required. In this instance, we had an OP who was one step ahead of the usual 'newbie '. David used the internet. All he wanted to know is if he planted some tobacco plants would the Manduca sexta lay eggs on those and stay away from his tomatoes.

Iris, I was looking at pictures and I think your sphinx moth looks a lot like the waved sphinx moth. They use ashes and oaks for hostplants.

It was moved to stop a dog (perhaps) or person from eating it? It is fine to move caterpillars so they won't get stepped on, but they are subject to being eaten/parasitized by something no matter where they are placed outdoors. Once injured, freezing and discarding is a practical method. Ermine moth ( family Yponomeutidae) caterpillars are not hairy. https://bugguide.net/node/view/86/bgimage?from=0