"1,500 Murder Hornets Murdered in Washington State"

"First spotted in the U.S. in 2019, Asian giant hornets—you know, murder hornets—have become an ongoing problem."

"As if you don’t already have enough to worry about, murder hornets are now an annual problem in the U.S.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture on Thursday announced that it located and eradicated the first nest of Asian giant hornets, better known by the much more catchy murder hornets, in the state this year. The nest contained some 1,500 hornets “in various stages of development,” WSDA said in a press release, and photos released by the department show many were in the pre-murder larval stage.

The discovery of the nest is good news in the sense that humans were able to murder the murder hornets before they could murder us or endangered bees. The bad news is, this is the third year in a row that murder hornets have been discovered in the state, where the homicidal insects were first spotted in 2019. The continual discovery of Asian giant hornets raises the specter that they could become an established invasive species in the U.S., which is why WSDA entomologists are encouraging the public to continue reporting any murder hornet they see."

Andrew Couts reports for Earther August 27, 2021.

Source: Earther, 08/30/2021