《TAIPEI TIMES》 Nantou resident to keep hornets’ nest as ‘lucky charm’

By Hsieh Chieh-yu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

A Nantou County man on Friday declined to have the county’s contracted exterminators remove a hornets’ nest at his home, saying he wanted to leave the nest as a lucky charm for his family.

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With his family having seen hornets outside the house over the past two months, a man surnamed Liao （廖） said he finally discovered the source, an unusually large nest lodged between security bars and a window pane.

The family does not want to remove the nest, because the security bars would need to be removed and the size of the nest is so rare, Liao said.

The life cycle of a queen hornet is one year, and as the family could avoid disturbing the nest by not opening the window and staying away from that side of the house, he sees no need to have county officials destroy the nest, he added.

“We can wait for the queen to pass on and take this nest as a souvenir for the children,” Liao said. “I think it will teach them to care about nature and will bring good luck to my family.”

Bug exterminator Pai Ching-an （白清安）, contracted to oversee exterminations in the county since the service was privatized in July, said he agreed not to take action, as the nest was not a danger to the public.

“It is not necessarily a bad thing to have a hornet nest nearby,” Pai said.

Hornets consume caterpillars and other bothersome insects and they do not pose a danger to humans, he said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES