Scientists in the U.S. and Canada are preparing to renew the battle against the so-called murder hornets, which arrived in North America from Asia in recent years.
The scientists said the battle is currently being fought mostly in Whatcom County, Washington, and across the border in nearby Fraser Valley of British Columbia, where swarms of the giant insects have been spotted.
“This is not a species we want to tolerate here in the United States,” said Sven-Erik Spichiger of the Washington state Department of Agriculture, according to Fox News. “The Asian giant hornet is not supposed to be here. We may not get them all, but we will get as many as we can.”
Paul van Westendorp, who works with the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, said the hornets are not only a danger to people, but they also could damage bee populations. “It’s an absolutely serious danger to our health and well-being,” he said. “These are intimidating insects.”
“Asian giant hornet attacks and destroys honeybee hives,” Washington State Department of Agriculture said last year in a blog post. “A few hornets can destroy a hive in a matter of hours. The hornets enter a ‘slaughter phase’ where they kill bees by decapitating them. They then defend the hive as their own, taking the brood to feed their own young.”
“These hornets will actually come into colonies, and they will decapitate the bees at the hive. They can decimate an entire colony,” University of Tennessee entomologist Jennifer Tsurda told WVLT News.
The battle will have two fronts. “One major front will be setting thousands of traps this spring to capture queens that are trying to establish nests, officials said. Both government agencies and private citizens will set traps, they said,” Fox reported. “Another effort is underway to determine exactly where in Asia these hornets came from, to try and learn how they are getting across the Pacific Ocean, scientists said. The theory is they are crossing on cargo ships, Spichiger said.”
The Daily Wire reported in November that one nest that was destroyed last year contained more than 500 insects at various growth stages and nearly 200 queens capable of starting their own colonies.
While the giant hornets are not as deadly as some other insects, they do not lose their stingers like some bees and are able to continuously pump venom into a victim. In a 2006 paper on the insects, a team of Japanese doctors said the hornets are deadly to humans.
“In Japan, fatalities due to Vespa mandarinia (wasp) stings are estimated to range from 30 to 50 persons each year. Most victims appear to die from anaphylaxis or sudden cardiac arrest,” the doctors wrote, “while some of them die from to multiple organ failure including rhabdomyolysis, renal failure, liver dysfunction, respiratory failure, and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy.”
Those who died were stung an average of 59 times, while those who survived suffered around 28 stings, the doctors found.