Hi Charlie,
This guy got into this work after he retired. He says our area is
loaded with these insects.
Since you are a medical professional, and might be interested in the
company, I'd like to make a correction. The newspaper transposed
letters in their article. The company in Pennsylvania that extracts the
venom is "ALK Source Material". I finally found their website.
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
On 10/3/2016 8:54 AM, Charles Geilfuss wrote:
What a weird job! Who knew?
Charlie
On Sun, Oct 2, 2016 at 1:31 PM, Jim Nichols <jhnichols@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 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
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