Asian Giant Hornet

The Asian giant hornets have made their way back onto the news. The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) employees were able to destroy the first known nest in the U.S.The nest was located in Whatcom Country near the Canadian border. The WSDA killed about 85 hornets that were nested in an alder tree by vacuuming them out of the tree. The queen hornet was not in that group, but they do believe they killed her when they pumped carbon dioxide into the tree to kill the stragglers followed by foam sealant and shrink wrap around the tree. Sven-Erik Spichiger, an entomologist who directed the nest eradication, said it is unknown if the hornets will establish a toehold in Whatcom County and begin to migrate to other areas of the U.S. and that it still looks optimistic that the WSDA is ahead of this to keep further nesting out. (Lewis, 2020)