Have a hornet, yellow jacket or wasp problem?

Save yourself the misery of getting stung, and call George Waldenmaier, a professional bee catcher. His services are free. He gets stung daily, and that’s okay with him. It comes with the job.

Waldenmaier works under contract for Vespa Labs of Spring Mills, Pa. The company extracts the venom from the bees to make medication for the treatment of severe bee allergies in sting victims. The work is meaningful and has a great purpose, but who has the courage to take a job to collect live bees?

Enter Waldenmaier, a high school biology teacher from Onancock in Accomack County on Virginia's Eastern Shore. He has a passion for insects and a love of adventure.

Approximately 10 years ago, Waldenmaier’s sister called him and told him to check out a program running on the Discovery Channel about a guy that caught bees for Vespa. Interested, Waldenmaier turned to Discovery and watched the show. He found it so interesting, in fact, he looked up the man who was featured on the show to ask questions. Waldenmaier wanted to get involved, thus beginning a secondary career that most people would never consider.

“It looked like fun, and it is fun,” he said, then added, “It could save someone’s life.”

The process involved in catching bees is quite an adventure. It takes a full bee suit with gloves and boots, but that is the only safety gear between Waldenmaier and hundreds of stingers.

The first step, as crazy as it sounds, is to make the bees angry. Methods utilized in this step include jumping around the nest, poking sticks down into the nest, or even digging up the nest and ripping it open.

In response, the bees come flying out of the nest, ready to fight, angry and confused, attacking anything in their path. The angrier the bees are the better.

Then, a vacuum is placed over the opening to the nest to collect the bees. Meanwhile, Waldenmaier must walk around until the bees finally quit attacking him, even having to pluck some of the more stubborn ones away with his hands.

Unfortunately, bees are small and the more aggressive of the bunch will find a way to get inside the suit if they want, according to Waldenmaier.

A special container is inside the vacuum. Once all or most of the bees are trapped within, that container is removed and CO2 is used to put the bees to sleep before they are placed on dry ice for delivery to the lab. As a last step and to ensure that no bees are left behind, Sevin powder is poured into the nest, officially marking the end of problems from that nest.

Waldenmaier travels to Botetourt County frequently during bee season. This area is a great resource with a large number of bees. Geographically unique, the county and surrounding Roanoke Valley is a central point for a mix of both northern and southern species of bees, accounting for such a high population.

Waldenmaier laughed as he said, “You have got to be the freaking stinging capital of the world.”