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Publications about the severe punishment facing those who kill at least one wasp in Germany are popular on the Internet. We decided to check whether such a law exists and whether these insects are really so strictly protected.
They write about strict laws protecting German wasps informational portals and Media. Social network users (“VKontakte", X, Facebook, Telegram), blog platforms (“Peekaboo", "Zen") And forums discuss the odious law, but disagree on the estimated fine: some write about €5,000, others about €50,000 and even €65,000. In separate posts approvedthat residents of Germany are required to have a special device with which they can catch a wasp that has flown into the house without causing harm to it.
Messages about gigantic fines facing German residents who raise their hand against wasps have been circulating on the Internet for several years now. This statement gained a new wave of popularity in the Russian-language segment of the Internet after a social network user Threads published a photo of a certain device with a proposal to guess what it is and why its existence is possible only in Germany. Many commentators responded that this is a device for catching wasps, so as not to accidentally kill them when trying to drive them out of your home and not run into a fine of up to €50,000. In many recent publications On the topic of severe punishment for exterminating wasps, there is a screenshot of this particular post in Threads.
Such a device actually exists; it can be bought on European marketplaces. Moreover, there are different devices on sale sizes, some come with a magnifying glass, others come with complete with containers for insects. Judging by the descriptions, manufacturers and sellers offer to use this device both to catch wasps and other insects that have flown or crawled into the house, and to study them in the wild. Such traps are sold not only in Germany, but also in others European countries, so the user who resumed the discussion of fines is not entirely right - this is not exclusively German know-how. There are some for sale too in Russia.
As for the huge fine that allegedly threatens every wasp killer, everything is somewhat more complicated. IN paragraph 39 The German Federal Nature Conservation Law states: “It is prohibited to deliberately disturb wild animals or to catch, injure or kill them without reasonable cause.” The law does not say anything specifically about wasps, but they can easily be classified as wild animals. Paragraph 44 specifically prohibits hunting, catching, injuring or killing wild animals of specially protected species or removing, damaging or destroying their developmental forms from the wild. Violation of these prohibitions entails administrative liability, and if we are talking about specially protected species, the violator may face fine up to €50,000. B list There are several types of wasps, for example bembexes. This list also includes bumblebees and bees. "Checked" previously wrote that without bees (and other pollinating insects, which include wasps), although humanity is not in danger of death, a decrease in the quality of life and an increase in its cost is quite possible.
Back in 2018, when some German media became concerned about the fine for killing wasps, fact checkers from Correctiv contacted for comments from representatives of the authorities of the three federal states: North Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia and Bavaria. None of the responding officials could confirm that anyone in their region had ever received a fine for killing a single wasp. In North Rhine-Westphalia at that time there was a precedent when a local resident was fined, but he destroyed an entire hornet's nest and paid only €45 for it. German officials noted that even in theory it would be problematic to issue fines for killing every wasp, since in order to do so, someone would have to report the offense. So, if you don’t kill wasps en masse, publicly and demonstratively, you don’t have to worry about fines. German Media annually write about huge hypothetical fines for those who kill wasps, but “Verified” did not find any reports of anyone being held accountable for such an offense and being required to pay a serious fine.
Thus, in Germany, some species of wasps are classified as specially protected species of animals, for the killing of which the law requires a fine of up to several tens of thousands of euros. However, loud headlines and posts about severe punishment for killing wasps are mostly clickbait. Firstly, there are hundreds of other animals, birds and insects on the list of specially protected species (about which there is not a word in viral publications), and secondly, most wasps do not belong to such species at all (although harming any wild animals is considered an administrative offense). In practice, no one is given thousands of fines because it is extremely difficult to track such cases - the wasp itself or its relatives will not report it. And such a severe punishment is provided only for those who kill insects deliberately and systematically. In addition, Germans are not at all required to have devices for catching wasps, photos of which have spread across the Internet. This is simply a device that allows you to both safely catch and expel insects that have flown into the house without causing harm to them, and to catch them in nature for study, and then release them into the wild.
Correction May 6, 2025: The mention of cymbex, erroneously classified as a specially protected wasp species, has been removed from the text. In fact, cymbex is not a wasp, but a sawfly. The original version of the text can be found at link.
Cover photo: pexels.com
Read on the topic:
- Correctiv. Nein — Wer eine einzige Wespe ttet muss nicht 50.000 Euro Bugeld zahlen
- Is it true that if bees go extinct, humanity will soon die too?
- Is it true that the flight of a bumblebee contradicts the laws of physics?
- Is it true that in Switzerland it is legally prohibited to flush the toilet and use the shower after 22:00?
- Is it true that Hong Kong law allows a woman to kill her husband who cheated on her?
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