A first nest of "murderous hornets" eradicated in the United States
Experts in special protective suits have, for the first time in the United States, eradicated a nest of giant Asian hornets, considered the largest in the world and nicknamed by some "deadly hornets", in Washington state ( North West).
This is the first time that a nest of these formidable insects has been discovered in the United States. Specialists from the Washington State Department of Agriculture "vacuumed" the nest that was discovered on a tree on private property in Blaine, near the border with Canada early Saturday.
The nest had been spotted Thursday, after a hunt that had lasted for weeks. Experts had relentlessly tracked down the insects, trapping giant hornets and tracking them down, in an attempt to eradicate the nest to prevent this invasive species from proliferating.
They had even used dental floss to attach tiny radio transmitters to the insects, which can grow up to three inches in length and cause very painful stings.
Before dawn on Saturday, a group of experts dressed head to toe in protective coveralls sucked the insects out of their nest, which was lodged in the cavity of a dead tree.
"We caught them"
“We caught them. We sucked several giant Asian hornets out of a tree cavity near Blaine this morning, ”the Agriculture Department said late Saturday in a tweet accompanied by a video showing large numbers of hornets in a transparent container.
He said more details would be revealed during a press conference on Monday.
The hunt for the giant hornet had been open since two specimens were discovered in December 2019 in this region.
The nest had been located following the capture of two living specimens of giant Asian hornets on October 21, thanks to a new type of trap deployed in the area by the Department of Agriculture.
Canada has also found such insects at two sites across the border in British Columbia.
It is still unclear how this giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) got to the United States. Entomologists fear that if it is not wiped out within about two years, the "killer hornet" could spread to North America and establish itself there permanently.
"It is very important to stop this altogether," Sven Spichiger, entomologist for the agriculture department, said at a press conference on Friday, adding that there could be other nests.
Distinct from the giant hornet, the “yellow-legged” Asian hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax) has begun to colonize part of Western Europe. It probably arrived there in 2004 in a shipment of pottery from China, delivered to southwestern France, from where it swarmed.
Giant hornets, usually native to East Asia and Japan, do not attack humans, but mainly target beehives, where they kill bees to feed their larvae.
Their bites, however, are extremely painful. In Japan, where insects are sometimes hunted for food, around 30 to 50 people die each year after being bitten by giant hornets.
