[Leica] Converting Trouble into Medicine

[ric at cartersxrd.net (RicCarter)]

fascinating!

ric


> On Oct 2, 2016, at 1:31 PM, Jim Nichols <jhnichols at lighttube.net> wrote:
> 
> Several weeks ago, I discovered a Yellow Jacket nest in my back yard.  I 
> kept a wary eye on it, but worried that my lawn maintenance guy might get 
> stung.
> 
> On Friday, the local newspaper, The Tullahoma News, ran an article on a 
> Winchester, TN resident who traps Yellow Jackets, Hornets, and Guinea 
> Wasps, and freezes them, eventually packing them in dry ice and shipping 
> them to the lab of AKL Source Material in Pennsylvania.  There, the venom 
> sacs are extracted by hand and used to create anti-venom.  I gave him a 
> call and told him about my nest.  He arrived yesterday afternoon as I was 
> watching a football game.
> 
> I decided to document the process.  The first photo shows the nest 
> entrance as I found it, essentially a hole in the ground laid bare by the 
> passage of many insects.
> 
> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Yellow+Jacket+Nest.TIFF.html
> 
> Pete Waldenmaier's "BeeBusters" truck.
> 
> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Bee+Busters+Truck.tif.html
> 
> The vacuum trap, essentially a tank vacuum cleaner with a special 
> collector trap.
> 
> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/The+Vacuum+Trap.tif.html
> 
> The trap in position at the nest hole.
> 
> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Trap+in+Position.tif.html
> 
> Final adjustments.
> 
> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Final+Adjustments.tif.html
> 
> After about an hour, the insect stream slows, so Pete hammers on the 
> ground to disturb them, and more start flying out.  The vacuum captures 
> most of them immediately.
> 
> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Hammering+on+the+Ground.tif.html
> 
> His truck is filled with support equipment, including a freezer and 
> bottles of carbon dioxide.
> 
> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Support+Equipment.tif.html
> 
> The final product is a bottle of Yellow Jackets.
> 
> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Yellow+Jackets.tif.html
> 
> Pete stuns the insects with carbon dioxide before placing them in the 
> freezer to die.  To be usable, the insects must remain frozen until the 
> venom sacs are harvested at the lab.
> 
> http://www.gallery.leica-users.org/v/OldNick/Stunning+with+Carbon+Dioxide.tif.html
> 
> While he had this operation going on at my house, he had a parallel 
> operation going on about 15 miles away.  I'm told there are only about 40 
> of these collectors nationwide.
> 
> Comments and critiques welcomed and appreciated.
> 
> -- 
> Jim Nichols
> Tullahoma, TN USA
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information