Invasive ‘killer hornets’ wiped out in US, officials say

Seattle
AP
—

The world’s largest hornet, an invasive species dubbed the “murder hornet” for its dangerous sting and ability to slaughter a honey hive in hours, has been declared extinct in the United States, five years after being seen for the first time in Washington state near the Canadian border.

Washington and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the eradication Wednesday, saying there had been no sightings of the northern giant hornet in Washington since 2021.

The news represented a huge success that included residents agreeing to place traps on their properties and reporting sightings, as well as researchers capturing a live hornet, attach a small radio tracking tag to it with dental floss, and follows it through a forest to a nest in an alder tree. Scientists destroyed the nest just as a number of queens were just beginning to emerge, officials said.

“I have to tell you, as an entomologist — I’ve been doing this for over 25 years now, and it’s a rare day when humans can actually win one against the bugs,” Sven Spichiger, pest program manager for the Washington State Department of Agriculture, told a virtual press conference.

The hornets, which can grow to 2 inches long and were previously called Asian giant hornets, gained attention in 2013 when they killed 42 people in China and seriously injured 1,675. In the United States, about 72 people a year die from bee and hornet stings each year, according to data from the National Institutes of Health.

Hornets were first discovered in North America in British Columbia, Canada, in August 2019 and confirmed in Washington state in December 2019, when a Whatcom County resident reported a specimen. A beekeeper also reported hives being attacked and turned over samples in the summer of 2020. The hornets could have traveled to North America in plant pots or shipping containers, experts said.

DNA evidence indicated that the populations found in British Columbia and Washington were not related and appeared to have originated in different countries. There have also been no confirmed reports in British Columbia since 2021, and the non-profit Invasive Species Center of Canada has said the hornet is considered extinct there as well.

Northern giant hornbills pose significant threats to pollinators and native insects. They can wipe out a hive in as little as 90 minutes, decapitate the bees, then defend the hive as their own and take the brood to feed their own young.

The hornet can pierce most beekeeper suits, deliver nearly seven times the venom of a honey bee and sting multiple times. At one point, the Washington Department of Agriculture ordered special reinforced suits from China.

Washington is the only state that has had confirmed reports of northern giant hornbills. Trappers found four nests in 2020 and 2021.

Spichiger said Washington will remain on the lookout, despite reports of the extinction. He noted that entomologists will continue to monitor traps in Kitsap County, where a resident reported an unconfirmed sighting in October, but where trapping and public distribution have run out.

He noted that other invasive hornets can also cause problems: Officials in Georgia and South Carolina are battling yellow-legged hornets, and southern giant hornets were recently discovered in Spain.

“We will continue to be vigilant,” Spichiger said.