'Murder hornets' eradicated from US, Federal and Washington agriculture officials say
Federal and Washington state agriculture officials announced Wednesday that the northern giant hornet, also known as the "murder hornet," has been eradicated from the country.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture said in a news release that there had been no confirmed sightings of the hornet in the past three years.
"We are proud of this landmark victory in the fight against invasive species,” Dr. Mark Davidson, deputy administrator at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said in the release. "The success of this effort demonstrates what’s possible when agencies and communities unite toward a common goal."
Officials credited interagency support and the public's help in the effort to remove the insect, which began in 2019.
"Without the public’s support for this effort, it is unlikely we would be announcing the eradication of northern giant hornet today," Sven Spichiger, the Washington state pest program manager, said in the release. "All of our nest detections resulted directly or indirectly from public reports. And half of our confirmed detections came from the public."
The agency said a suspicious hornet sighting was reported in Kitsap county in October but it could not confirm the species. Trapping will continue as a precautionary measure in 2025.
Murder hornets first spotted in 2019
The insect was first spotted in Washington in December 2019, according to the news release. The state agriculture agency said it had eradicated a hornet nest in October 2020 and three nests in 2021.
The hornet is a threat to the honeybee and other insects and can kill entire honeybee colonies in 90 minutes.
Researchers in Spain reported the first sighting in Europe of a similarly invasive species of hornet, the southern giant hornet, in in the peer-reviewed journal Ecology and Evolution last month.