News in digest: Run Indy, run!

If the spiders and rats don’t get you during the day, Doctor Jones, the mosquitoes and bedbugs will during the night

Indiana Jones doesn’t like spiders. Or is it rats? Or mosquitoes or bedbugs – well obviously, nobody likes vicious little insects that bite you at night. Anyhow, they’re all here in climate-changed Denmark: more dangerous and in more varieties than ever before.

READ MORE: Record numbers of bedbugs in Denmark

West Nile virus carrier
The mosquito species Culex modestus, which is known for spreading the dangerous West Nile virus, has been found at four ponds in the nature reserve of Vestamager, south of Copenhagen – the second sighting following one in 2014 in Greve.

However, although it could be breeding here, René Bødker from the National Veterinary Institute says there is no cause for concern as one would first have to bite an infected bird and then immediately transmit the virus to a person.

Spider species soaring
Likewise, experts concur there is no reason to fear the explosion in spider species – unless, of course, you suffer from arachnophobia, which affects 48 percent of women and 12 percent of men.

Like with the mozzies, the warmer temperatures are to blame. In Denmark, there are around 500 species, and only a few are capable of biting through human skin. All of them are harmless to humans.

Spiders that arrive in fruit and other goods from abroad, however, are a different story, as was the case in April when a Redback turned up in Vojens in a shipment from Australia.

Bugs under the bunks
Bedbugs have on the increase for five years, and according to Karl-Martin Vagn Jensen from the University of Aarhus, they have become resistant to the poison successfully used during outbreaks in the 1990s.

Fuelled by tourists and Danes bringing them here from abroad, a tell-tale sign that you have bedbugs is black spots on mattresses – blood-filled faeces the size of a full stop.

Rats in, cats out!
And don’t forget the rats. This year has so far seen 500 more complaints in Copenhagen than in the same period in 2015 – a rise experts have attributed to increases in temperatures and food litter.

And it would appear that we’re neglecting our best form of defence: our cats! A new study reveals that only four out of 10 cat owners would take their pet to the vet if it was sick.

While a study by animal protection group Dyrenes Beskyttelse showed that 2,889 cats were simply tossed out by their owners in 2015, making up 82 percent of the total number of animals left behind.

Were the Vikings wrong?
And to think the cats were revered by the Vikings and taken on their travels – primarily for the purpose of killing rodents!

The discovery was made by a team at the Institut Jacques Monod in Paris by analysing the DNA of more than 200 cat remains found at 30-plus archaeological sites across Europe, Middle East and Africa.

If in use, kill it!
But who needs cats, when you’ve got birds-of-prey? Well, apparently the good people of north Zealand who keep on poisoning them with the illegal insecticide carbofuran.

A sea eagle found near Smørum has become the latest of its species to be killed, along with several kestrels, golden eagles and red kites.

It was snakes!
In answer to the original question, Indiana Jones doesn’t like snakes, and it’s bad news for the doctor, we’re afraid.

Because while the spiders, mosquitoes and bugs are harmless, around 20 Danes require hospitalisation every year after being bitten by an adder, although there has only been one death in the past 50 years.




  • The internationals who created an app to make friends in Denmark  

    The internationals who created an app to make friends in Denmark  

    A team of young internationals has created an app that is helping their peers connect and build friendships in Denmark, addressing the challenges of social integration.

  • New documentary stirs debate in Denmark and Greenland 

    New documentary stirs debate in Denmark and Greenland 

    The documentary Greenland’s White Gold, reveals the worth of cryolite mining in Greenland to be in the billions. Over the years its value has been undermined, despite it acting like a gold mine for the Danish state. 

  • Today is 10 years from Copenhagen terrorist attack

    Today is 10 years from Copenhagen terrorist attack

    On February 14 and 15, the last terrorist attack took place in Denmark. Another episode occurred in 2022, but in that case, there was no political motive behind it

  • Enter Christiania: how the Freetown works

    Enter Christiania: how the Freetown works

    We all know Christiania and have been there at least once. But how does the Freetown work? How are decisions made? Can a person move there? Is there rent or bills to pay? British journalist Dave Wood wrote a reportage on Christiania for The Copenhagen Post.

  • The struggles of Asian women in Denmark’s labour market

    The struggles of Asian women in Denmark’s labour market

    Isha Thapa unfolds her research “An Analysis on the Inclusivity and Integration of South Asian Women in High-Skilled Jobs within the Danish Labor Market”. Thapa describes the systemic and social challenges these women face, ranging from barriers in social capital to cultural integration.

  • Parents in Denmark reject social media monitoring 

    Parents in Denmark reject social media monitoring 

    Most parents in Denmark reject using social media parental controls despite knowing about them. A new study questions the effectiveness of these tools in ensuring children’s online safety.