Posted on 08/26/2005 10:15:28 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Children Transported To Hospital For Treatment
SILVER SPRING, Md. -- As many as 15 adults and children are being treated for what authorities said was an attack by a swarm of yellow jackets on a Washington-area elementary school.
Montgomery County Fire spokesman Pete Piringer said it happened shortly before noon at Montgomery Knolls Elementary School in Silver Spring.
Officials said the children were walking in a wooded area with adults from their day-care center when they apparently moved a log, which turned out to be the nesting spot for the yellow jackets. That got the yellow jackets buzzing, and before everyone could escape, 11 of the 15 children were stung, along with three adults.
According to Piringer, the children range in age from 3 to 5 years old. Three of the children were stung repeatedly and had reactions. Eight others were stung once or twice.
All 11 children were taken to Holy Cross Hospital to be checked out.
I ran into a nest once when I was mowing a lawn for hire. I took it on with a garden hose. I backed them off with the fine spray and advanced to the entrance, then blasted them with the nozzle in the ground. After a while I saw larvae and paper comb floating up, so I figured I got 'em.
If it was up to me, I would have let them alone, but I figured my client, an elderly woman, would not want them around. All part of the give and take between myself and my most esteemed insect friends.
Probably not. One thing I've learned out on my remote ranch is that all herbivores are merely opportunistic carnivores that were not graced with the equipment to fetch their own meat from birth. Carrion is good food for just about any critter that manages to grab it before a professional scavenger shows up.
The first time I saw cow chowing on a dead critter, I did a "WTF?", but I'm jaded now. :-) And most critters appear to view Mormon crickets as manna from heaven, and will gorge themselves on them. Seeing nominal herbivores chase and occasionally catch rodents in their teeth is something else. A calf will eat just about any critter that is slow enough.
Clearly you do not have a proper appreciation for the insanity of yellow jackets. :p
no those are red jackets... (Century 21 agents)...
Yellow jackets are the most vicious buggers that God saw fit to put on this earth for some reason. When I was a kid, I fell feet first into a large nest built into the base of a creekbank. Needless to say, I was immediately swarmed and when I took off running down the creek, the little kamikazes CHASED me all the away home, about a hundred yards away. They got into my socks and underneath my clothes, and stung me 33 times. My dad rushed me to the hosptial where I nearly met my maker. I still remember the intense pain on my legs and feet, which literally felt like someone had poured gas on them and set them on fire. It hurt like h#LL, and since then I have made it my personal mission in life to kill as many of the little bastards as possible.
Soapy water works best.
funny you mention that - I witness one devour a wasp last week - It snagged it right from the air and started eating it, stinger first !
---Yeah, but now's not the best time to get them. Wait until Jan-Mar.---
Why?
I had my spleen removed there. Oh, the memories...
I think one the size of a toy poodle would be cute around the house, let me know when you get them........
When I wake up in the morning my cat is sitting next to my head staring at me. One of those the size of a doberman on the other side of the pillow would take getting used to.......
They're as friendly to humans as a cat. Completely harmless.
[snip]
I plan to breed them to get to be about the size of a doberman.
And like a cat, if they get big enough, the first thing they're going to try to figure out is how to have you for lunch!
Mark
Try "Gunk Engine Brite"
When I worked at an auto parts store machine shop, we had problems with wasps. One blast from this stuff begins desolving their exo-skeletons, and will kill then really quickly. But the best part is that it immediately dissolves their wings. So if you give them a good blast, the fly like bricks.
Mark
They hatch around spring and die around November.
Yeah, but at least my "Rumsfeld/Tancredo '08" yard signs will remain intact.
Lemme guess: They were all saying, "This sucks!"
/rimshot
LOL! good one!
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