Any sightings of black and yellow wasps settling on pet foods, fish or other meat products should be regarded as particularly suspicious and reported immediately. They also directly damage soft fruits and can cause substantial damage to grape crops. European wasps have even been reported cutting pieces of flesh from cows' teats. Environmentally, they are damaging through direct predation on native insects and competition with other species including birds. Tourism is adversely affected in areas where they are plentiful because wasps are attracted to foods, drinks and BBQ's in outdoor areas.
European wasps can sting several times in an attack and stung victims can require medical attention.
Fatalities have been caused by reactions in allergic patients and by multiple wasp attacks where nests have been disturbed. In spring, lone mated European wasp queens search for a nest site and commence construction of a nest. The nest is made from papery material scraped from wooden objects and mixed with saliva. The queen constructs about a dozen cells and lays an egg into each cell. When the eggs hatch into larvae she captures insects to feed the larvae until they pupate and eventually emerge as worker wasps in late spring or early summer.