France battles invasive Asian hornet species, which threatens biodiversity

They slipped into southwest France 10 years ago in a pottery shipment from China and have since invaded more than half the country, which is fighting back with drones, poison and even chickens.

The Asian hornet, or Vespa velutina nigrithorax, is considered a "public enemy" in parts of France, where it devours native bees and other insects and, experts say, threatens biodiversity.

"It's exploding [in numbers] and causing trouble," said Eric Darrouzet, a biologist at the Research Institute for the Biology of Insects (IRBI) at the University of Tours.

But some kind of solution may be in sight.

Pest controller Etienne Roumailhac is exhausted, called to destroy at least six nests a day in the Landes region on the Atlantic coast. Each nest can house thousands of hornets.

"I find them everywhere: garden sheds, mail boxes, car radiators, watering cans," he said.