Scientists in US and Canada set to battle ‘murder hornets’
- Local authorities are moving to stop the giant insects from establishing nests in Washington state and British Columbia this spring
- Plans include setting thousands of traps to capture queens, as well as finding out where in Asia the hornets are coming from and how they get to North America
Scientists in the US and Canada are opening new fronts in the war against so-called murder hornets as the giant insects begin establishing nests this spring.
The scientists said Wednesday that the battle to prevent the apex predators from establishing a foothold in North America is being fought mostly in Whatcom County, Washington, and the nearby Fraser Valley of British Columbia, where the hornets have been spotted in recent years.
“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, which eradicated a nest of the Asian giant hornets last year. “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,” he said of eradication efforts this year.
01:49
‘Murder hornets’ spotted in the US for the first time
Paul van Westendorp of the British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries said the hornets pose threats to human life, to valuable bee populations needed to pollinate crops and to other insects.