- Title: French beekeeper invents 'murder hornet' trap to protect hives
- Date: 26th August 2021
- Summary: BREST, FRANCE (AUGUST 18, 2021) (REUTERS) BEEKEEPER AND INVENTOR DENIS JAFFRE AND BEEKEEPER CHRISTIAN PETIT CHECKING ASIAN HORNET TRAP VARIOUS OF TRAPPED HORNETS JAFFRE OPENING BEEHIVE ROOF BEES AT HIVE ENTRANCE HORNET CATCHING BEE IN FLIGHT ZOOM AND SLOW MOTION OF HORNET CATCHING BEE IN FLIGHT JAFFRE AND PETIT MANIPULATING HIVE FRAME BEES ON FRAME (SOUNDBITE) (French) BEEKEEPER AND INVENTOR, DENIS JAFFRE, SAYING: "The idea behind this trap was to find a solution to the catastrophe that the year 2016 -- during which I lost 35 of my hives -- was. I thought to myself I had to find a solution at all costs. I would even think of it at night and I had taken the habit of having a pencil and paper on my bedside table, to write down whatever ideas I could have, even during the night, because I had been so traumatised by the loss of half of my hives that year. It was a catastrophe." JAFFRE PULLING FRAME OUT OF THE HIVE AND LOOKING AT IT BEES ON FRAME JAFFRE MANIPULATING FRAME BEES ON HONEYCOMBS PETIT LOOKING ON HORNET CATCHING BEE IN FLIGHT ZOOM AND SLOW MOTION OF HORNET CATCHING BEE IN FLIGHT (SOUNDBITE) (French) BEEKEEPER, CHRISTIAN PETIT, SAYING: PETIT: "If you don't set up traps, you see the hornets fly in front of the beehive entrance, they choose their menu, they catch a bee and they fly away with it to go and cut it into pieces in a quiet little bush." JOURNALIST: "Was that painful for you?" PETIT: "It is very hard. When you see that all day long, it's sad." JAFFRE LIFTING TRAP ROOF JAFFRE LOOKING AT TRAP AND SHOWING ENTRANCE TUNNEL AND PLASTIC DOOR THAT KEEPS HORNETS FROM SEEING WAY OUT, SAYING (French): "So the trap is made in such a way that the hornets go in through the trapezium (-shaped tunnel) and get inside the trap after passing the small light-blocker that you can see here, and they try to reach the bait that is under (a grid that keeps them from doing so)." VARIOUS OF DEAD HORNETS ON GRID ABOVE BAIT (SOUNDBITE) (French) BEEKEEPER AND INVENTOR, DENIS JAFFRE, SAYING: "So why is the trap selective? It was made so that only the queen of the Asian hornet can get inside (along with her workers). Smaller insects can enter as well but they can also get out. The trap is calibrated to the nearest hundredth of a millimetre so that the European hornet, which is 1.5 millimetre bigger than the Asian hornet, cannot get inside." LAMPAUL-GUIMILIAU, FRANCE (AUGUST 18, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF JAFFRE WALKING UP TO GARDEN SHED WHERE HORNETS BUILT NEST HORNETS BY NEST ENTRANCE VARIOUS OF JAFFRE VACUUMING HORNETS HORNETS IN VACUUM VARIOUS OF HORNETS TENDING TO LARVAE IN BROKEN OPEN NEST VARIOUS OF JAFFRE SHOWING PIECE OF NEST WITH LARVAE AND QUEEN HORNET (TOP), SAYING (French): "There you go. You can see that one of the last ones to be in the nest is the queen." (SOUNDBITE) (French) BEEKEEPER AND INVENTOR, DENIS JAFFRE, SAYING: "We know that destroying nests does not have an impact on the proliferation (of hornets). It really has no effect on it. It simply is interesting because it prevents accidents upon discovery of a nest but we are not able to regulate hornet (populations) only by destroying nests. So we should think twice about destroying nests very late in the season, when nests have reproduced and when they are very high (in tree branches), and thus very expensive to destroy." LANDIVISIAU, FRANCE (AUGUST 18, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF JAFFRE SETTING UP STAND AT MARKET JAFFRE SHOWING TRAP TO CUSTOMERS VARIOUS OF JAFFRE TALKING WITH CUSTOMERS HORNETS IN GLASS JAR CUSTOMER PAYING FOR TRAP (SOUNDBITE) (French) 53-YEAR-OLD CIVIL SERVANT AND TRAP BUYER, FLORENCE FEREC, SAYING: "I will use this trap to catch the Asian hornets that fly around my plants and flowers, at home. Because I have a few and I generally take two pieces of wood to smack them -- I've become quite the expert at it, I rarely miss -- but I think that with this (trap), even when I'm not watching out for them, I will manage to get them." VARIOUS OF JAFFRE BUILDING TRAP JAFFRE BUILDING TRAP WHILE FAMILY LOOKS ON HONEY POTS AND 'CONCOURS L'EPINE' INVENTORS' CONTEST TROPHY TROPHEE CUSTOMER LEAVING WITH TRAP IN BOX (SOUNDBITE) (French) BEEKEEPER AND INVENTOR, DENIS JAFFRE, SAYING: "Our hope, and it is quite warranted, is to make sure that (Asian) hornets are not a threat to anyone. And for that to work, if we only protect the hives, it will obviously not be enough. So the idea is to bring in the towns and cities, and most importantly the regions -- which are competent to deal with pests -- so that the territory is covered and so that this coverage reduces proliferation to such a level that hornets cannot be a threat to anyone." PENCRAN, FRANCE (AUGUST 18, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TRAPS STACKED ON SHELVES AND AWAITING EXPEDITION
- Embargoed: 9th September 2021 12:05
- Keywords: Asian giant hornet Brittany France bee beekeeper hive innovation invasive species invention trap
- Location: PENCRAN, LANDIVISIAU, LAMPAUL-GUIMILIAU AND BREST, FRANCE
- City: PENCRAN, LANDIVISIAU, LAMPAUL-GUIMILIAU AND BREST, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Environment,Europe,Nature/Wildlife
- Reuters ID: LVA001ERX1EFB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Faced with the loss of 35 hives to the invasive Asian hornet, French beekeeper Denis Jaffré knew he had to act quickly to save his bees.
These hornets have no natural predators and can eat through an entire hive in a few hours. They have decimated bee colonies across Europe.
"I had to find a solution at all cost. I had been so traumatised by the loss of half of my hives," Jaffré said.
So in 2016 the Brittany beekeeper came up with a device with a one-way mechanism like a lobster pot to catch the hornets, thought to have arrived in France in 2004 in a pottery shipment from China
Originally made from a wooden wine crate and metal mesh, his traps are now 3D-printed in plastic.
After receiving a French inventor's prize in 2018, Jaffré started making traps in bulk.
Demand is so high, he has had to stop taking orders to catch up.
He now employs six staff and ships to several European countries.
Attracted by a sugary bait, the hornets get in through a one-way funnel on the contraption, and once inside they cannot get out, while smaller insects can escape through tiny holes in the walls.
"If you don't set up traps, you see the hornets fly in front of the beehive entrance, they catch a bee and they fly away with it to go and cut it into pieces somewhere else. It is very hard when you see that all day long," said fellow beekeeper Christian Petit, one of the first to try out Jaffré's trap prototypes
Jaffré, who also removes hornet nests in homes and gardens, said that while destroying the nests prevents accidents, it does little to stop the spread of the insect.
He said the only way to control the hornets would be by systematic trapping all over the country, with local government support.
(Production: Manuel Ausloos) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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