Beekeeper Elphaidis L’Or was the hero of Den Bosch on Tuesday evening when a nest Asian horners came down as large as a beach ball. The wasps were so aggressive that they even attacked a police car. Together with fellow emperor Sylvester De Jonge, Elphaidis to the rescue to suck the wasps with a special vacuum cleaner. The animals must now go into the freezer. “Because they can have a lot,” she knows.
On a normal Tuesday evening, Elphaidis, chairman of beekeeping association Den Bosch, was suddenly called by a resident of Van Straelenlaan. “The older lady was quite panic, because there was a nest Asian horners on the sidewalk,” says the beekeeper. She immediately advised the woman to stay inside and look out.
The woman had already tried to call the municipality, but did not get a hearing. Normally a distribution team of the province comes to a report of a wasp’s nest. “If they are not available or not working, beekeeping associations are often called. Then we will come, because you can’t leave a nest for days. But nice is different,” says Elphaidis. Removing a nest Asian horners did not just happen.
“Everything that moves, they grab.”
“If the nest feels threatened, the horners become very aggressive. Everything that moves, they grab.” For example, a police car was even attacked by the animals on Tuesday evening. The street was spacious and a report was sent via Burgernet that local residents had to stay away from the neighborhood.
Elphaidis went to collect stuff together with fellow emperor Sylvester at the friendly beekeeper association De Langstraat. “They had just received a new vacuum cleaner. Not all associations have the right equipment, because that sometimes costs up to fifteen thousand euros,” she says.
Once on site, Elphaidis and Sylvester, dressed in protective clothing, put a box over the nest. They suck the remaining wasps with the vacuum cleaner. “It was still a small nest. Some nests become as big as a skippyball,” says Elphaidis.
It was a big relief for local residents that the nest had been cleaned up. “It was exciting for a while, because people were quite panic,” she continues. The beekeepers took the nest home to put it in the freezer. “It has to be there for a few days or weeks under a very low temperature to be sure that they are dead. The horners can have a lot,” says Elphaidis.
“They eat a whole bee population like that.”
For her own bees that are about two hundred meters away, it is better that the horners have been cleaned up, because they were also in danger. “Hoornaars go flying for hives and eat a whole people when the bees come out. They are very aggressive,” says Elphaidis.
For the neighborhood in Den Bosch, the beekeepers were the big heroes on Tuesday evening, but they themselves hope that the province will focus more on subsidies for distribution teams. “The problems with the Asian horners are getting bigger, while the subsidies only decrease. This situation is really untenable,” she says.
