Another nest of Asian giant hornets found just south of the Semiahmoo Peninsula has been destroyed by U.S. officials in Washington state.
On Thursday, the Washington State Department of Agriculture announced via Twitter that a nest had recently been found just east of Blaine, near the Canada/U.S. border. It was eradicated with some help from the state’s department of natural resources.
Nest of the large hornets – which can grow to become quite large, and can have stingers as big as six-millimetres – have been found in the Blaine area before, including last October, when department workers, wearing protective suits, removed the first nest to be found in the United States.
Another #AsianGiantHornet nest eradicated, this time with the expert tree-dropping help from @waDNR. This was a queen of a slightly different color! Ten combs to this nest. All workers – no virgin queens or males. pic.twitter.com/ad1ZuIpiJ3
— Washington State Department of Agriculture (@WSDAgov) September 23, 2021
The hornets – often dubbed ‘murder hornets’ – are not especially dangerous to humans – a sting can cause sickness but is not usually fatal. However, they kill honeybees; co-ordinated attacks by the giant hornets can wipe out entire honeybee colonies, which in turn hurts farmers who rely on the bees to pollinate crops.
The most recent nest, the department explained, included all worker hornets, rather than a queen, and was quite large – “Ten combs to this nest,” read one tweet.
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