"Attleboro attack underscores threat posed by wasps" by David Abel and L. Finch, Globe Staff | Globe Correspondent | September 8, 2010
It got so bad the lingering wasps, which had already stung the nearly unconscious woman more than 500 times, began attacking her rescuers.
The 53-year-old Attleboro woman had either fallen or stepped on a nest, local fire officials said, and when rescuers found her lying on the grass Saturday evening next to her Division Street home, she was covered in a type of wasp called yellow jacket. The firefighters used a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher, which sprayed cold, compressed gas, to stun the insects so they could help the woman, Fire Chief Scott Lachance said.
Afterward, several yellow jackets remained in her clothing and stung three firefighters in the ambulance, he said. A few stragglers made it to the hospital, but did not sting anyone there, Lachance added.
Though summer is winding down, this is the most likely time of year to be stung by wasps and similar predatory insects, entomologists say.
In the past few months, millions of larvae throughout the region have matured, most reaching adulthood during the past few weeks. There are now more adult wasps than at anytime of the year, and they are all competing for sustenance, making them more likely to prowl garbage bins, picnic tables, or anywhere people leave food, entomologists say.
It's always your fault, human, have you noticed that?
No matter what it is in the paper, it's always your fault!
“This is the time of year that they’re scavenging for food stocks to keep their queens alive for the coming year,’’ said Lee Corte-Real, director of the division of crop and pest services at the state Department of Agricultural Resources. “They’re foraging desperately as the weather gets cooler, and sometimes people get in their way.’’
Cool weather? During the allegedly hottest summer ever recorded?
Surely you jest, sir!
Yesterday, a group of yellow jackets attacked several students and their teacher in Dover, N.H., as they took part in an outdoor science activity, school and local fire officials said.
One of the sixth-graders from Dover Middle School had stepped on a wasps nest, agitating the yellow jackets and sending the students running, Dover Assistant Fire Chief Richard Driscoll said.
Yeah, I noticed both cases are when WE INTRUDED UPON THEIR WORLD!
The insects chased the students, stinging 11 of them and their teacher, several as many as 20 times, Driscoll said. Firefighters treated three of the students, while the rest of the class darted back to the school, warding off the insects along the way.
“It wasn’t mass hysteria,’’ Driscoll said. “You have to give the kids credit.’’
For doing what comes naturally and instinctively?
Eric C. Mussen, a specialist on bees and other insects at the University Of California at Davis, said part of the problem is that many of the traditional prey of wasps — spiders, caterpillars, and other insects — are dying at this time of year, so the yellow jackets are scavenging for food left by people....
In the event that someone disturbs a nest, he said, the only thing they can do is run as fast as they can — as far away as they can — and try to get into a sealed space. He said wasps often won’t fly much more than a quarter of a mile from their nest....
I don't know if I can make a quarter mile in that case.
Mary Wilson, co-owner of Bee Busters in Acton, said the nests grow from the size of a thumbnail in April to the size of a baseball in July to the size of a basketball this time of year, often with as many 10,000 inside. The nests grow until the frost kills most of them.
Then they don't have long around here.
Wilson, who has been stung hundreds of times, said yellow jackets don’t need to be provoked to sting.
So they are acting like Israelis?
They can be attracted to someone just by their smell, or if the person happens to enter their flight path.
I don't know. They usually veer away, but....
More than anything, she said, the wasps are attracted by food, trash, lights, pet excrement, dried leaves, overgrown shrubbery, or grease built up on a grill.
“My advice is for people to minimize fragrant odors, eat inside, or if you eat outside, cover your food,’’ she said. “They should keep their grills clean, avoid leaving residual trash outside, and manage their shrubbery. Most important, people need to be aware of their surroundings.’’
And whatever you do, just be afraid, slob. Of anything.
That seems to be the agenda-pushing attitude of the paper.
You know, I've seen them flying around this year -- yes, recently -- however, they pretty much stayed away and so did I.
