A beekeeper was so devastated five years ago when all his bee hives were destroyed by Asian hornets, he vowed to figure out a solution to fight back.

Asian hornet (Vespa velutina), by Charles J. Sharp – CC license

French beekeeper Denis Jaffré thought about it night and day, and finally came up with a trap that stops the invasive species, which has no natural predators in Europe where they have been terrorizing hives since arriving accidentally in a cargo shipment from Southeast Asia.

The trap Jaffré invented does no harm to bees.

It attracts insects with a sugary bait using a funnel, but the larger hornets can’t get out. Bees can easily escape through tiny holes.

Reuters reports that the beekeeper won an inventor’s prize 3 years ago and is now manufacturing the traps using 3D printers and six employees, and is being flooded with orders.

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He hopes that governments will get involved so Europe can stop the spread of the so called predatory species.

See the story below from Reuters… [CORRECTION: The Reuters article appearing in the Globe and Mail incorrectly identified the pests as ‘murder hornets’ and ‘Asian giant hornets’ which are a different species than is in France today.]

 

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