The Big Wasp Survey is urging
members of the public to make wasp traps out of beer
Sarah Knapton, science
editor
22 AUGUST 2017 • 5:00PM
The public has been urged to
drown wasps using beer in a bizarre conservation project, which has been
condemned by wildlife experts.
Ecologists at the University
College London (UCL) and the University of Gloucestershire are encouraging
drinkers to set alcohol traps in
their gardens then post the dead carcasses back to them, so the insects can be
identified and counted.
The team claims it wants to
‘harness the public’s hatred of wasps’ to find out more about where they live
and how common different types are, in the The Big Wasp Survey.
Entomologist Professor Adam Hart,
of the University of
Gloucester, said: “While we are asking people to kill some wasps, which is
a bit unusual for a project aimed at conserving them, it really is the only way
that we can identify the wasp species around and be sure that the information
we get from the project is worthwhile.
“At this time of the year, wasp
colonies are at the end of their life and the wasps we catch are old workers,
who will die at the end of the summer anyway. This means our methods won’t have
any effect on the overall population.”
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