Scientists remove 98 ‘murder hornets’ in Washington state
Despite harrowing nickname, biggest threat is to domestic honeybees
SPOKANE, WASH. — Scientists removed 98 so-called murder hornets from a nest discovered near the Canadian border in Washington state over the weekend, including 13 that were captured live in a net, the state Department of Agriculture said Monday.
The other 85 Asian giant hornets were vacuumed into a special container when the first nest discovered on U.S. soil was eradicated on Saturday, the agency said.
“The eradication went very smoothly,’’ managing entomologist Sven Spichiger said. “This is only the start of our work to hopefully prevent the Asian giant hornet from gaining a foothold in the Pacific Northwest.
“We suspect there may be more nests in Whatcom County,” Spichiger said.
Saturday’s operation began before dawn with the team donning protective suits and setting up scaffolding around the tree so they could reach the opening of the nest, which was about three metres high. The team stuffed dense foam padding into a crevice above and below the nest entrance and wrapped the tree with cellophane, leaving just a single opening. This is where the team inserted a vacuum hose to remove the hornets from the nest.
Team members used a wooden board to whack the tree to encourage hornets to leave the nest, the agency said.
When the hornets stopped coming out of the nest, the team pumped carbon dioxide into the tree to kill or anesthetize any remaining hornets. They then sealed the tree with spray foam, wrapped it again with cellophane, and finally placed traps nearby to catch any potential survivors or hornets who may have been away during the operation and returned to the tree. The work was completed by 9 a.m.
Entomologists will now try to determine whether the nest had begun to produce new queens.
Asian giant hornets, an invasive pest not native to the U.S., are the world’s largest hornet and a predator of honeybees and other insects. A small group of Asian giant hornets can kill an entire honeybee hive in a matter of hours.
Asian giant hornets can deliver painful stings to people and spit venom.
Despite their nickname and the hype that has stirred fears in an already bleak year, the world’s largest hornets kill at most a few dozen people a year in Asian countries, and experts say it is probably far less.
The real threat from Asian giant hornets — which are five centimetres long — is their devastating attacks on honeybees, which are already under siege from problems like mites, diseases, pesticides and loss of food.