A beekeeper in France dropped off a nest with 1,500 Asian hornets outside of a town hall to protest inaction of authorities in combating the invasive species, Newsweek reported.
Christian Grasland said he left the nest of Asian hornets at a municipal building in Mauron, in the Brittany region of northwest France to “raise awareness,” according to the report.
“I am a friend of the bee and an enemy of the Asian hornet,” Grasland told French newspaper Ouest France, per Newsweek.
Beekeeper dumps nest with 1,500 Asian hornets outside town hall in France https://t.co/icdIapSiNo
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) October 22, 2020
Grasland said he asked authorities days prior to delivering the nest for help fighting the hornets but was turned down, Newsweek reported.
“I was refused on the fact that the nest is on the private domain,” he said, per Newsweek. “If the nest is so dangerous at the door of the town hall and I am a fool for having placed it there, why is it not quite as crazy to leave it outside a private house?”
Conservationists warn the existence of the invasive species, which were introduced to Europe in 2004 could devastate local honeybee populations, the report added. But they are different from the murder hornets that have been spotted in North America. (Deadly Asian ‘Murder Hornets’ Have Come To North America)
“A nest of Asian hornets was deposited Monday, October 12, 2020, in the morning, in front of the entrance door of the town hall. I have nothing against the beekeeper, who also works as a destroyer of hornet nests,” said Mauron Mayor Yves Chasles, per Newsweek, in response to the incident. “But he was in the wrong, because it endangered our fellow citizens.”
London’s Natural History Museum Wasp expert Gavin Broad described Asian hornets as a problem because they eat honeybees, the report added.
“They are specialized honeybee predators and beekeepers are concerned,” he said, per Newsweek.
“The hornets raid honeybee hives by sitting outside them and capturing workers as they go in and out. They chop them up and feed the thorax to their young,” he added.