All summer, franceinfo makes you discover surprising or unknown professions through the column “Is it really your job?”. Today, focus on the profession of hornet hunter, with Benoît Klein.
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Reading time : 267 mins.
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“That’s Asian hornet” : the diagnosis of Benoît Klein falls quickly. In this client’s barn, in the Lyon region, the nest is attached to the roof, 6 or 7 meters high, and is the size of a melon. “We are on a nest that is relatively high, so I will use a telescopic pole, which will allow me to work from the ground, away from the nest to avoid the risk of bites”explains the man who started this activity six years ago.
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“This pole will allow the product to be brought precisely to the heart of the nest, with a product that will remain contained inside, to avoid polluting the rest of the environment”, further details Benoît Klein. So no more destruction with all-out spraying. This is one of the evolutions of the pest control profession. And that’s not the only one: the products have also evolved. Benoît uses natural insecticides and tests cold or steam treatments.
“A job full of challenges” and physically demanding
However, after putting on his wetsuit “made for the asian hornet, with extra thickness”Benoît gives no quarter: “Unfortunately for them, in a few minutes, it’s almost over.” Because Asian hornets are pests, an invasive species to be destroyed. On the other hand, it does not systematically kill European hornets or wasps when it has to intervene on one of their nests. And that too is an evolution in the practices of the profession that he has been able to observe in six years: “We are more on the regulation of species to better understand the interactions they can have with the environment and with people, to try to allow inhabitants to live in harmony with these insects, without necessarily going to total and systematic destruction.
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“It’s a job full of twists and turns and challenges.smiles Benoît Klein. We can sometimes intervene in relatively dramatic situations, with people who have gone to the hospital. You have to quickly become aware of the situation, and reassure people.”tells the hornet hunter, who explains the physical requirement required.
In the heart of summer, he can chain up to ten interventions a day, sometimes in the attic under the roof, with a heat which can reach 50 degrees.