Japanese hornets shut down ball diamonds
Meat-eating insect showing up across Niagara Peninsula
A predatory insect that one expert described simply as “nasty” is showing up all over Niagara.
The Japanese hornet is becoming more common. On Wednesday, the City of Port Colborne was forced to shut down use of the Rotary Club baseball diamonds on West Side Road after several nests were discovered on two of the park’s three clay playing surfaces.
George Scott, a professional beekeeper for more than 25 years from Wainfleet-based Niagara Beeway, collaborated with Truly Nolen, a company from St. Catharines, to combat the colonies found at the local park.
He said the Japanese hornet is a meat-eater and that six of them can kill 10,000 honeybees.
They can also bite through thick clothing, something Scott found out the hard way.
“I didn’t know that until I got whammed. I’ve never been stung so hard,” he said.
They will also follow people,
have quite the temper to contend with, as well as the ability to sting multiple times, he said.
Research has shown the insect from Asia was brought to North America in egg form, transported in soil, he said.
After finding another large colony in Niagara-on-the-Lake on Tuesday, before receiving the call from the City of Port Colborne, Scott and two other top experts in the area met to share ideas and what they all know so far about the menacing pest.
They’re working to put as much information together as they can, but want the public to be aware of the bug’s presence and how serious it is.
“We’re the experts, and we’re still looking to learn more about them,” Scott said.
In Port Colborne, the hornets were in large mounds before being sprayed with a liquid, short-term contact poison.
“I’ve never seen so many burrows and we couldn’t tell if they were feeding or setting up for breeding in the clay,” he said.
He said in many spots they were in two-inch piles.
“These things can dig like a rodent.”
Brian Wyatt from the parks and recreation department came across the menacing hornets when preparing the diamonds for minor baseball games that were scheduled, and later cancelled, for Wednesday night.
“I had a pretty good idea of what they were but I wanted to make sure,” he said at the park.
The city called in the professional beekeepers to conduct extermination efforts, also scheduled to spray again Thursday.
The three clay diamonds are out of service until further notice as the situation will be monitored on a day-to-day basis, said the city’s communications officer Michelle Cuthbert.
“We’re asking everyone not to come near the fields right now,” she said.
Port Colborne’s minor baseball association has also been made aware of the threat.
Anyone who notices anything similar at municipal facilities is asked to contact the city’s operations centre at 905-835-5079.
Contact information for Niagara Beeway is available at www.niagarabeeway.com.