4 ms·

Why are wasps protected in Germany? I understand bees, but what good are wasps for?

linmob 4y ago
See https://www.thoughtco.com/what-good-are-wasps-1968081 https://www.thoughtco.com/what-good-are-wasps-1968081
constGard 4y ago
I'll add my own annecdote to this article. We had a wasp nest under the eaves of the house and I managed to successfully move them into a little hutch I built near the garden. I can't say I directly observed them saving the tomatoes, but we did have fewer tomato hornworms than in previous years. They were also really docile and tolerated a good deal of me fumbling around with the nest. I waited until it was cold out and covered up pretty thouroghly, but they were mostly content to let me flop them around with a set of long BBQ tongs.
nibbleshifter 4y ago
Germany has some very silly laws. The wasp protection one gets broken all the time for obvious reasons.
biztos 4y ago
Without the wasps crawling into the sugar dispensers at every single outdoor café in Germany all summer long, people would eat the sugar and create a diabetes epidemic. At least that was my impression in Berlin; wasps got all the sugar, Berliners stayed pretty thin for the most part.
- type0 4y ago
  Ah, this explains the bitterness of Berliners
- JakobH 4y ago
  Sounds like i need more wasps in my house!
hoseja 4y ago
I've come around on wasps. They just do their thing. You got stung? Don't tread on them.
- yetihehe 4y ago
  Sometimes wasps have other ideas about "treading on them" like "You are near and made a sudden move, you are threat". It gets worse when you are allergic to wasps. I've worked near a place where transport company cleaned their syrup and milk carrying trailers, so we sometimes had a lot of wasps and one of coworkers had to constantly have adrenaline with him. If he got stung and couldn't do it himself, we were trained on how to jab him and call ambulance.
  - InitialLastName 4y ago
    > one of coworkers had to constantly have adrenaline with him. If he got stung and couldn't do it himself, we were trained on how to jab him and call ambulance. FWIW, this bit is true of everyone I've known who was aware of an anaphylactic allergy, independent of their likelihood of exposure to the allergen. "Carry an EpiPen, know how to use it, make sure some of the people around you are aware of your allergy and know how to handle a reaction" is a very light-weight and reliable solution to "something relatively common could easily kill me".
KMnO4 4y ago
Despite their aggression and desire for sugar, wasps are useful and important pollinators the same way that bees are.
- type0 4y ago
  They also annihilate the bees which are much better pollinators

See https://www.thoughtco.com/what-good-are-wasps-1968081 https://www.thoughtco.com/what-good-are-wasps-1968081

I'll add my own annecdote to this article. We had a wasp nest under the eaves of the house and I managed to successfully move them into a little hutch I built near the garden. I can't say I directly observed them saving the tomatoes, but we did have fewer tomato hornworms than in previous years. They were also really docile and tolerated a good deal of me fumbling around with the nest. I waited until it was cold out and covered up pretty thouroghly, but they were mostly content to let me flop them around with a set of long BBQ tongs.

nibbleshifter 4y ago

Germany has some very silly laws. The wasp protection one gets broken all the time for obvious reasons.

biztos 4y ago

Without the wasps crawling into the sugar dispensers at every single outdoor café in Germany all summer long, people would eat the sugar and create a diabetes epidemic. At least that was my impression in Berlin; wasps got all the sugar, Berliners stayed pretty thin for the most part.

type0 4y ago
Ah, this explains the bitterness of Berliners
JakobH 4y ago
Sounds like i need more wasps in my house!

hoseja 4y ago

I've come around on wasps. They just do their thing. You got stung? Don't tread on them.

yetihehe 4y ago
Sometimes wasps have other ideas about "treading on them" like "You are near and made a sudden move, you are threat". It gets worse when you are allergic to wasps. I've worked near a place where transport company cleaned their syrup and milk carrying trailers, so we sometimes had a lot of wasps and one of coworkers had to constantly have adrenaline with him. If he got stung and couldn't do it himself, we were trained on how to jab him and call ambulance.
- InitialLastName 4y ago
  > one of coworkers had to constantly have adrenaline with him. If he got stung and couldn't do it himself, we were trained on how to jab him and call ambulance. FWIW, this bit is true of everyone I've known who was aware of an anaphylactic allergy, independent of their likelihood of exposure to the allergen. "Carry an EpiPen, know how to use it, make sure some of the people around you are aware of your allergy and know how to handle a reaction" is a very light-weight and reliable solution to "something relatively common could easily kill me".

KMnO4 4y ago

Despite their aggression and desire for sugar, wasps are useful and important pollinators the same way that bees are.

type0 4y ago
They also annihilate the bees which are much better pollinators