Bee Wise

Bees, wasps and many other flying creepy insects have a unique way of breaking up a picnic. People tend to scatter when a meal is invaded by hungry and sometimes angry insects, especially those people that may be allergic to their sting. Out of all the bees and wasps there are some that seem to be more aggressive and dangerous than others. One such creature is the European wasp that is becoming more and more prevalent in the Australian backyard, especially through summer. Quite frankly they are getting to be quite a menace. More often than not we sit down to a nice Aussie Barbecue and within minutes the wasps smell the food cooking and are buzzing around the table. They can smell foods from miles away, particularly sweet foods, and will arrive to devour what they can off the table in front of you. The European wasp is not naturally an aggressive insect, but when provoked things can turn nasty. The instinctive thing to do when you see something buzzing around and landing on your food is to swat it away or kill it outright. This can, however, turn the situation into an ugly one where the wasp turns aggressive and may sting someone. A European wasp sting can be fatal. The problem with swatting them is that if you miss, or only half kill them they can send out distress signals to their nearby nests and very soon you have many European wasps on your doorstep. My policy is to simply leave them alone and immediately go inside if they invade a party. Even doing this though may not be enough, when my eldest son was just a baby, I went into his room to check on him while he was sleeping and could hear a buzzing noise. It turned out to be a European wasp, shut in his room whilst he was sleeping, who knows how long it had been there, it was quite scary knowing what they are capable of.

Another well known insect terror is the Africanised Honey Bee. After escaping a quarantine program in 1956 they began breeding with the Brazilian Honey Bee. They are aptly known as "Killer Bees". They have been known to viciously attack people and other animals for seemingly no reason at all. Their hive does not need to be disturbed at all, simply get too close to the hive, make a loud noise, or start your car within hearing range, and an attack may be provoked. The bees may remain agitated for a full day after any disturbance, and continue to attack any other poor unsuspecting soul that enters their territory.

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