Is it cruel to kill wasps?

Other foot, they'd end us. Beware the wasp.

No. Wasps are dicks. I don't support the extermination of the species but on the individual level if I find one in or near my house that sucker's going down.

-Byshop

Depends on why you're killing them. If they're in your home, or if they're bothering you, or if they're in a spot where their nest is going to be a danger to someone, then by all means kill them.

But if you're just going around pointlessly finding wasps and then killing them for s***s and giggles, then yeah. That's cruel and you're being a jerk.

It's only cruel to kill Wasp if they aren't bothering you. But however, if I find a Wasp nest hear my home, I will shut that sucker down! No exception! Honey Bees however, I don't have an issue.

(Unless the Wasp was paying half of my house note, I'll let them stay :)

@davillain-: you know wasps pollinate flowers as well and they also kill other insects making them vital pest control (despite being pests themselves)

I apply the kill rule for all insects that enter my house.

No. Would you rather get stung and poisoned by a deadly insect, or kill it immediately and be poison free?

Any insect I see, I kill it. There are no second thoughts whatsoever. People say Bees are friendly and doesn't sting you. Well, I see bees as equal as spiders. I kill it on sight.

I would agree with most of the people, it depends what it the situation. However, even if it's in my home and there's a possibility to catch it and let it free, I would do that. Killing it makes me uncomfortable, because I'm always aware of accidentally getting stung while doing so.

If I kill a wasp its in self defence

They don't bother me. If I had a nest on my roof or something like that I would take care of it but the random encounter doesn't bothers me. My gf on the other hand kinda freaks out when one get close to her.

And I should be traumatized, when I was 14 I accidentally hit a nest while taking a walk on high vegetation and it wasn't cool at all. But shit happens.

Wasps are jerks. Straight up. Build the wall!

Kill them without a second thought.

Wasp kill spiders. Spiders kill the flying insects that annoy me most. But I'm going to kill anything that gets in my house. Outside, I will go out of my way to avoid stepping on insects, but in my house it's war.

Don't get more than the occasional fly or gnat through the door, but I will hunt those bastards down till they are dead. Otherwise they seem to fly between me and my monitor on the regular, and that cannot be tolerated.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

No, wasps including hornets, yellow jackets, and true wasps are agressive a-hole insects, I have no love for them.

Bees are fine.

Spiders are fine unless poisonous to humans, they keep insect population down, Other arachnids like scorpions and ticks gotta go.

Actually, they're not aggressive to humans. Really, they're not. They're DEFENSIVE, as in they'll absolutely sting you if you mess with them or they think you're messing with their nests. But they're not aggressive towards humans. That would be a really stupid survival strategy.

I'm not kidding. Obviously I don't recommend everyone to keep a wasp nest on their home, because like I said wasps will DEFEND their nest if they think you're messing with it. And that's obviously not something that's even worth a slight chance of happening, especially if you're talking about something like a hornet's nest. But if you just go right up to a random solitary wasp that's out roaming around, that wasp is just going to ignore you.

Heck, I've walked up to large paper wasp nests consisting of up to two dozen adults, and gotten really close (though I don't recommend doing this). They're actually really neat to watch up close. Just make sure you don't breathe on the nest, because then they go apeshit! Also, don't touch them or make any sudden startling movements. And that's me poking my face right into the nest. That's just paper wasps though, I've never actually seen a hornet's nest. If I did see a hornet's nest on my property though, you can bet your ass that it wouldn't be ME killing them. That's a job for a professional exterminator. I'm not touching that s***.

Sometimes I get paper wasp nests around my home. Depending on where the nest is located, I'll often just leave it alone. If it's a spot where I'm likely to brush up against the nests or disturb the wasps, then I'll remove it. But otherwise, it's actually easier for me to just leave it alone. During the summer, I'll just let the wasps do what they do. I leave them alone, and they leave me alone. Then during the winter when the nest is abandoned, I'll take it down when there are no wasps around to sting me. But yeah...for the most part wasps really only mess with people when people mess with the wasps or their nests. In most cases it's actually SAFER to just leave wasps alone. They're not aggressive to humans, they're defensive to humans. Humans get stung when they mess with wasps. In most cases the absolute safest thing to do is to leave a wasp alone. Obviously this doesn't include wasps getting into your house, or setting up a home in your backyard in a spot where you're likely to get stung, or setting up a home in a playground where kids are playing. In those cases, by all means kill the wasps. But usually, trying to kill wasps only increases one's chances of being stung.

This should really be obvious. There are a buttload of wasps near you practically any time you go outside. If wasps were actually aggressive towards humans, then pretty much everyone would be getting stung by wasps on a regular basis. That's not what happens though. Most people rarely if ever get stung by wasps, because wasps actually want nothing to do with us. We're not food for them, and they're small enough that attacking us is suicide. The only time that wasps take any interest in us is when they think that we're messing with them first.

Here's where I point out that bees will also sting the hell out of you if they think you're attacking them or their nests. There really isn't that much difference between the two. And in both cases, unless they think you're a threat to the nest, attacking a solitary individual will usually just result in it flying away. They have wings for a reason.

Every time people talk about how noble nature is and how savage humankind is, I want to ask them their opinion on hornets.

"What about the one that lays its eggs in tarantulas where they get eaten from inside?"

"Well..."

"...or how about the Japanese giant hornet, that literally conducts war on lesser bees and hornets to steal and consume their young?"

"People kill the young all the ti--!"

"Yeah. But not to eat. NOT TO EAT!!!!"

This. I don't take the offense, but my protective bubble is pretty large; if there's a wasp or hornet (anything other than your lovable honey or bumble bee) within 20 feet of me I am prepared to kill it.

Like @MrGeezer said, if they are attacking you it's usually because they're defending their home. But you can bet when I'm having a nice picnic or eating outside and they come after my chicken or fruit salad, I'm going to go defensive on their winged butts just like they would on me.

@MrGeezer: Yeah...I'm still gonna kill them.

@MrGeezer:

I appreciate your informative post but....

From my experience I have found wasps to be much more aggressive than bees and can sting multiple times, so I'll stick with my original statement.

In my opinion, wasps are more of a threat than bees (except to those allergic to bees or live near killer bees), and I have no qualms about killing any in my territory without being stung if I can. I will go out of my way to avoid harming bees. That's how I see it.

@vfighter:

Right on

Good way to do it.

I got stung by several wasps in my life and never by a bee. That should say something.

I don't kill wasps on sight, but if they're in my way, and they definitely are most of the time, they are getting slapped and stomped on.

Bees are very friendly and are usually minding their own business, I don't recall ever killing a bee in my life.

I hate carpenter bees more than wasps. They can chew through wood at an amazing speed. I watched one chew a perfect hole in a 2x4 in less than 2 minutes, it was covering up the entrance to his house. Now he just has a bigger entrance and Raid wasp and hornet spray doesn't effect them in the slightest. Thought pretty hard about burning the house down....just to be sure.

I'm scared of Wasp and other flying bugs that get in my way but I'm not gonna go out of my way and start killing everything in sight.

NO! It is not cruel to kill wasps! Recently, we found a small wasp nest in a window shutter near my front door. At first, we didn't think anything of it. I live in the south, we see wasps, locus, red ants all the time so seeing one wasn't a big deal.

The next day, my oldest daughter and I were walking to the front door when I bumped into the shutter I saw the wasp the day prior. Within seconds, about 6-8 wasps flew out of an opening in the shutter and start coming towards us. I tried to get my daughter to run away from the porch, but she, unfortunately, froze in place. I had to reach to grab her; being stung on the back of my head because I turned my back to the nest and another on my hand when I was grabbing for her to pull her off the porch.

Within 48 hours, a pest control company came to my house, sprayed the area where we believed the nest was and killed 10/12 of them. The guy who came to kill the wasps showed me the nest afterward. Within 4-5 days we would have had 8 more fully grown wasps who were about to come out of their cocoon and a few others still in their larvae stage.

When it comes to nests around the house or property....SCREW them! If they are in wooded areas away from my property, they can do what they want because I do understand there is a point to them.

If they're outside the house, no. If they're inside my house/car, yes. But mostly as a last resort.....

To answer your question properly, I think its cruel to kill most insects, not just Wasps. Except for Mosquitoes. They can burn in hell...

I don't go out of my way to kill anything, live and let live. Even if a wasp stings me, it's basically just a minor inconvenience and momentary pain anyway.

A got stung by a little one but I had just discovered it's nest in the shed. It wasn't that bad. Then I swallowed one by accident. I drank from an open Coke can, just necked it and swallowed a fly right down into my throat and managed to cough it back up again onto the floor. It was covered in mucus but all docile and unharmed.

So I nearly ate one.

Otherwise, if you wave your arms around they will just fly around like mad in no direction in particular and freak everyone out.

If it comes at you. Wave your hand at them lazily and it should fly off. If they come back you've got get rid because they are there specifically to pester you. But it's usually easier to shepard them out the window.

However, one came into my kitchen a couple of months ago with something stuffed in it's gob and went behind the washing machine and I got rid of it twice. When it came back the third time I had to use my death strike on it and it died.

To be honest I'm going to sound crazy saying this but I lightly brushed it with my hand and it just dropped dead. I have no idea why. I was intending to kill it but I think just the killer intent stopped it's heart or something. Weird eh.

That's twice I've killed an animal just by touching it. The other was a tiny slug.

I am nuts aren't I but the death hand is real. It happened.

Interesting fact. Did you know, bees evolved from termites and wasps from ants with completely different evolutionary taxonomies.

That's neat! I didn't know that termites had a different evolutionary taxonomy. I just did a quick look and I see that they're actually related to cockroaches. Maybe in the future, the cockroaches in our houses will evolve into a social species. Wouldn't that be neat? Like, what if every time you saw a cockroach, it meant that there is a giant cockroach queen living somewhere in your house, pumping out thousands of cockroach eggs a day?

Anyway, from what I see, bees ants and wasps are all still classified within the same order Hymenoptera. So...doesn't that mean that they are (presently considered to be) related? I mean, if bees had a completely different evolutionary taxonomy, then wouldn't they have been reclassified so as to not share the same Order as wasps and ants?

Depends if they're drunk and up for a fight - in that instance, there can be only one; in every other instance we should just let them bee.

Mosquito's however, now they should be hunted down. Not killed, merely imprisoned and treated slightly unfairly.

@MrGeezer: I think cockroaches come from Praying Mantis! I don't think they have a queen, each one is fertile methinks.

I suppose both termites and ants are segmented head, abdomen and 6 legged so they must have some relation I suppose.

One can but hope...

I don't know how I miss this but that was pretty cool. I didn't think Drones would standout to be this useful, I'm more impress the blades are just sharp enough to rip the Wasp nest like that.

They should fly that drone 3 inches away from a wasps face to see how they f'ing like it.

Who's been stun by a wasp? I have a few times. The worst was on my ring finger -- swelled up quick and painfully.

@mandzilla: Yep. I take spiders outside all the time after taking time to examine them and see what is unique about them.

@schu: Ahh, another bug watcher eh?

It's handy to keep a spider around the house actually. They do a good job of keeping flies away during the summer months. ??

I have never been stung but I'm scared of it!

I have been stung three times in my life by wasps; twice from bees. The first time was on top of my head because I stupidly went into an abandoned collapsable RV first to impress a girl. Was stung hard enough I have a very small portion of hair that does not grow. The other two were more recent; one on the back of my head, the other on my hand. This time the girl was my daughter. lol!

You just leave them alone, unless they reach inside the home. Same goes for rats or when people break into your home, but I guess their all in the same right?

No...ever had a wasp infestation in your house?...if you did you'd never ask question like this. :P

Pretty much. I mean, if they're in your home or on your property, then whatever. It's your space and if you don't want them there then you can get rid of them.

That's a lot different than just walking around in public, seeing another animal that's just minding its own business, and then deciding to kill the shit out of it just for having the nerve to EXIST.

Some people try to justify such assholery on the basis of "public safety". As in, they're walking down the street and they see a bee or an ant or a snake, so they just kill it even though it was minding its own business. Then they say, "well, what if some kid came along and tried to mess with it? That kid could get hurt!" And sure, that's possible. It's also possible that a DOG walking down the street could maul some kid. But it takes a special kind of asshole to see a dog out in public, and then kill the hell out of that dog and later try to justify it with "I did it to save the children." That's not someone who gives a s*** about public safety, that's just a total f***ing psycho who gets his kicks by killing random dogs.

Killing animals that are in your home or in your yard or otherwise bothering you in some fashion is one thing. But to just be walking along the street, seeing ANY animal that's just minding its own business, and then killing it for minding its own business is totally f***ed up. That's just the kind of piece of shit human being who sees a cat or a turtle or a snake in the middle of the road and intentionally tries to run it over just in order to rack up another kill. You deal with the animals in your personal space however you please. The other animals you leave alone. They're not going out of their way to kill YOU simply for existing. So you seeing them minding their own business and going out of their way to kill THEM just for existing is a shitty thing to do.

@MrGeezer:

Yeah I have a whole crew of people that follow me around. Use pigeon hole tactics and whatnot. Very illegal. I was told by this girl that some guy was going to try and kill me, actually. I’ve tried for any type of peaceful resolution but you got to understand that 2 years is a lot of time to take from someone. Before you know it I could end up in one of those care giver joints like Home Instead.

Nope

Yeah specially when your eating out side or sat on step minding your own business drinking a cuppa and a wasp decides just to attack for no reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxXRdAJLOwY

Cruel "Wilfully causing pain or suffering to others"- Definition according to Oxford. Technically if you kill it you cause suffering because by definition it is going through hardship which is what suffering can be defined as so technically it is cruel but in reality, most people (I included) could give less then two fucks, it's me getting stung or that fucker getting killed and I value my life to be worth more.

I actually support the extermination of mosquitoes.

ONLY if they are harming you.

Wasps, mosquitos, ticks, scorpions.......if they are in the vicinity and could pose a threat, they gotta go.

Those blood-sucking deer ticks around here can carry Lyme disease.

only if they are fucking with you