Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Nasty sting in the tail
With the long, hot summer leading to a surge in wasp numbers, David Tomlinson warns that gundogs can be prone to being stung
IT’S BEEN A SUMMER of record temperatures, heatwaves and, for most of the country, little rain. Here in East Anglia, the countryside is parched and brown, looking more like southern Spain than England.
It will have to be a very soggy autumn to bring rainfall levels back to anywhere near the average for the year. At the time of writing in mid August, I’ve recorded only 169mm of rain in my garden since 1 January. In old money, that’s 6.65in — about the same amount of rain you might expect in the sub-saharan Sahel zone.
One of the effects of such a dry and sunny summer has been a surge in wasp numbers and the little blighters are now super-abundant. I’ve always been fascinated by wasps and as a child I delighted in waging war on them. I started by making wasp traps in jam jars, but then progressed to shooting them, for I found that they provided excellent sport.
I kept chickens and by chance discovered that the layers’ pellets
I fed my birds were almost exactly .177 in diameter. They fitted my Webley & Scott air rifle perfectly, providing me with cheap and safe ammunition.
A chicken pellet fired from my air rifle was accurate up to at least 10ft, though after that it lost both accuracy and power. However, this was the perfect range for wasp shooting and I had a scattering of rotting apples to attract the wasps, rather like pigeon decoying. My best ever bag was 60 in an hour, or a wasp a minute.
I’ve always been a little reckless with wasps. If you kill one by clapping it in your hands, it can’t sting you, as I’ve proved many times. However, I have been stung on many occasions, something that I’ve largely deserved. But wasps can be seriously dangerous, as I was reminded a few years ago when a friend was attacked. He was trimming his garden hedge in late summer when he hit a wasps’ nest. The angered wasps stung him repeatedly. Tragically, he had died of anaphylactic shock before the air ambulance crew reached him.
Anaphylactic shock isn’t restricted to humans and can just as readily kill dogs, too. Wasp venom is a highly effective biological weapon, made up of a variety of different compounds, ranging from histamine to dopamine. The shock is an allergic reaction to this sudden injection
“Dogs are like humans in that some are far more allergic to wasp stings than others”
of venom into the bloodstream. A human or a dog’s body responds to the venom by releasing histamines in large quantities, lowering the blood pressure. This can lead to breathing difficulties and, in severe cases, death.
All dogs are vulnerable to wasp stings, but gundogs are particularly prone to being stung because of their very nature, investigating anything
they find interesting. I am sure that most handlers are sufficiently sensitive to their dog’s behaviour to quickly identify the fact that it has been stung, but according to the Kennel Club the indicators are whining, agitation, swelling, lumpylooking skin and biting, nibbling or pawing at the site of the sting.
On the few occasions when my dogs have been stung, I’ve invariably seen the wasp make the attack. None of my dogs have ever been seriously affected, though they have clearly found the sting painful at the time and a source of irritation for a lengthy period afterwards. The stings have all been quite straightforward, on less vulnerable parts of the body, while I’ve never had a dog suffer from more than a single sting at a time.
Things get serious when a dog is stung inside the mouth, especially if the dog has caught or tried to eat the wasp and the latter manages to sting it repeatedly. This is something that wasps, unlike bees, are quite capable of. Such stings may lead to the throat swelling, potentially blocking the animal’s ability to breathe.
If this happens, get the dog to the nearest veterinary practice as soon as possible. Having your vet’s telephone number on your mobile phone
makes sense, but it’s remarkable how many people haven’t taken such a precaution. Warning the vet that you are bringing in a dog that has been badly stung could well make the difference between life and death.
Allergic reaction
Dogs are like humans in that some are far more allergic to wasp stings than others and you never discover that your dog is particularly sensitive until it has been stung. I would always advise taking a dog to the vet if it has been stung repeatedly, stung on or in the mouth, or appears to be having an allergic reaction. It’s also sensible if there’s a lasting swelling following a sting. However, for most dogs, a sting is something they will soon get over, so don’t panic unnecessarily.
Anaphylactic shock doesn’t always happen immediately and can occur as much as 24 hours after the sting was inflicted, so it’s best to keep a wary eye on a dog that has been stung, and to keep it quiet and as relaxed as possible. Human antihistamines aren’t recommended for dogs, so only administer antihistamines on the advice of your vet.
As prevention is always better than cure, do your best to keep your dogs away from wasp nests, as they are always the most dangerous places for an inquisitive animal.