Guessed the job yet? Kiwi John Eason guessed it a while ago, and now he’s making a decent living as a Wasp Collector. In fact, he believes he is one of only two people in New Zealand who collects live german wasps to send to the United States for use in manufacturing wasp sting de-sensitising drugs.

After sneaking up on them and vacuuming them up, Eason fast-freezes them and sends them on to a lab in the US where the venom is extracted.

“They can be pretty scary sometimes, especially when they get stuck in your visor, but they’re only protecting their home. I get pretty dressed up. I’ve only had three stings.”

Eason also states that german wasps don’t swarm, but large groups could sometimes be seen at this time of year searching for nectar to feed the queens, and some overwintering nests can have thousands of queens.

Sounds like a couple of clubs I know near where I used to live in Manchester.

Scary stuff, indeed.

(Found at stuff.co.nz)