Asian hornet: destroying is no longer compulsory
For the Asian hornet, an invasive exotic species, the systematic destruction of the nests has long been systematic. This has not been the case since 2023 when Wallonia has revised its Asian hornet management strategy. Its proliferation being already out of control, for both budgetary reasons (each intervention has a cost), that logistics (the reports are too numerous), or environmental (the products used can harm other species, birds and aquatic environments), the accent is now put on the destruction of so -called “primary” nests, easier to reach and strategic to brake the expansion of the species since To swarm workers who will build “secondary” nests much more difficult to reach and containing several thousand individuals.
Asian hornet: the 2024 struggle begins with new weapons in Wallonia
Call on a pro
Trying to destroy a nest of hornets or wasps either is not a good idea. For oneself and for those around them in the event of an attack but also for the environment when you use unsuitable products or at excessive doses. Professionals are trained and have suitable equipment and products: protections, effective products, telescopic perches, etc. In order to be taken up as specialized operators for the neutralization of Asian hornet nests they are approved by the Walloon Agronomic Research Center (CRI-W) which is in charge of the management policy of the Asian hornet in Wallonia. A map of operators trained in the neutralization of the Asian hornet is available on the CRA website.
What price? Insurance?
The prices charged by professionals can be very variable. Depending on the speed of the intervention period, competition in the sector or the difficulty of the intervention. But, for a conventional intervention, without too much access to access, a price between 40 and 100 euros is a correct base.
Do insurance take charge of these interventions. No, it is said at ASSORALIA. Home insurance is involved in damage related to natural disasters: storm, flood, explains Peter Wiels, spokesperson for the Insurers’ Federation. “But the nests of hornets and wasps are not part of it. I imagine badly that a nest can do damage to a building.”
On the other hand, if during his intervention the person who neutralizes the nest causes damage, it is possible to involve his professional insurance.
If home insurance does not intervene, there is however a product (which seems to be an exception on the market) which intervenes to reimburse the price of the intervention. Ethias thus offers, in addition (50 euros) of its family assistance insurance, the Home Emergency option which covers basic necessities in the event of an emergency situation occurred at home. The destruction of a nest of wasps or hornets is one of them.
Fight against the Asian hornet in Wallonia: mixed results for the trapping of the founding queens, but the other insects spared
Responsibility in the event of an accident
It has been said, it is therefore not compulsory to destroy a nest of wasps or hornets. However, there are exceptions.
For the Asian hornet, formidable predators of the bees, it is compulsory to eliminate the nest if it is within the perimeter close to a apiary.
Furthermore for hornets as well as for wasps, the destruction obligation applies if the nest represents a potential danger for the neighborhood or people likely to pass in the area. “It is the owner’s responsibility to judge whether it is necessary to have the nest neutralize”, according to the text relating to the regional strategy for the management of the Asian hornet. In the event of an accident, the responsibility of the owner of the land where the nest is located could be engaged and its family insurance could even refuse to intervene if it is proven that there has been a manifest negligence.
Bouli Lanners at Intradel with his bag of Asian hornets to denounce the absence of a neutralized nest elimination sector with insecticide
