Text 27389, 83 rader
Skriven 2007-02-21 10:32:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: France
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Of course this is because of global warming, which is George Bush's fault.
Stand ready to be amazed at what you will hear attributed to global warming.
These clowns act like the earth has been the same temperature forever. I think
the hornets are smart enough not to like the French.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/21/whornets21.xml

Hornets hit France and could reach Britain
By Peter Allen in Paris
Last Updated: 2:40am GMT 21/02/2007



Swarms of giant hornets renowned for their vicious stings and skill at
massacring honeybees have settled in France.

And there are now so many of the insects that entomologists fear it will just
be a matter of time before they cross to Britain.


A hornets nest
Global warming has largely been blamed for the survival and spread of the Asian
Hornet, Vespa velutina, which is thought to have arrived in France from the Far
East in a consignment of Chinese pottery in late 2004.

Thousands of football-shaped hornet nests are now dotted all over the forests
of Aquitaine, the south-western region of France hugely popular with British
tourists.

"Their spread across French territory has been like lightning," said Jean
Haxaire, the entomologist who originally identified the new arrival.

He said he had recently seen 85 nests in the 40-odd miles which separate the
towns of Marmande and Podensac, in the Lot et Garonne department where the
hornets were first spotted.

advertisementThe hornets can grow to up to 1.8in and, with a wingspan of 3in,
are renowned for inflicting a bite which has been compared to a hot nail
entering the body.

A handful can destroy a nest of 30,000 bees in just a couple of hours  a major
concern among the beekeeping industry.

"The problems are not necessarily public health ones, but ecological ones.
These hornets can cause immense damage to beehives," said Mr Haxaire. The
hornets are renowned for feeding their young with the larvae of other social
insects, including bees, whose nests they break into and ransack. The French
beekeeping industry has already been decimated by pesticides and long, hot
summers.

Honey production from the 1.3 million hives run by 80,000 beekeepers has been
decreasing annually  down by 60 per cent in south-western France during the
past decade.

A spokesman for the French National Been Surveillance Unit said the bee death
rate during winter was now up to six in ten.

As a result France has to import some 25,000 tons of honey annually.

"The arrival of these hornets has made the situation considerably worse," the
spokesman added. "The future of our entire industry is at stake."

Yesterday, there was concern that it may not take long before the Asian hornet
makes its way to Britain.

"There's no doubt that these hornets are heading north and will probably find
their way to Britain at some point," said Stuart Hine, manager of the Insect
Information Service at London's Natural History Museum.

"Climate change certainly means they can cope with European summers. However,
they would still have difficulty coping with our winter frosts."

While some 40 people a year die from hornet stings  mainly because of allergic
reactions  Claire Villement, of France's Natural History Museum, said there was
no need for a "national panic about killer wasps".

Mrs Villement said: "The legend that three bites from a hornet can kill you are
totally false. People can still enjoy their picnics in the countryside."

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