Northern giant hornet, AKA ‘murder hornet,’ eradicated from WA

The northern giant hornet, previously known as the “murder hornet,” has been eradicated from Washington and the U.S. overall, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), after three years passed without any confirmed detections.

The eradication of the hornet resulted from a multiyear effort beginning in 2019 with state, federal and international government agencies all in coordination.

“We are proud of this landmark victory in the fight against invasive species,” Dr. Mark Davidson, Deputy Administrator at USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said in a prepared statement. “The success of this effort demonstrates what’s possible when agencies and communities unite toward a common goal. USDA played a key role by providing critical funding, technology, personnel and research support and scientific expertise that helped WSDA eradicate this pest.”

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The northern giant hornet was first detected in the U.S. and Canada in August 2019, and a confirmed sighting was recorded in Washington in December 2019. Within the state, WSDA found and eradicated a single hornet nest in October 2020 and three nests in August and September 2021.

The hornets, which can be 2 inches long, first gained significant attention in 2013 when they killed 42 people in China and seriously injured another 1,675 people. In the U.S., 72 people a year die from bee and hornet stings each year, according to data from the National Institutes of Health.

Davidson claimed the eradication of the hornet not only protected pollinators and crops, but also the industries, communities and ecosystems that depend on said pollinators.

WSDA representatives believed if the northern giant hornet species were to establish itself in the U.S., no longer existing as an invasive species, they would have posed a significant threat to honey bees, other pollinators and native insects. According to The Associated Press (AP), northern giant hornets can kill and destroy an entire honey bee hive in just 90 minutes. Their sting is more dangerous than that of a honey bee to humans as well.

WSDA made sure to extend its thanks to the community members of Whatcom County, who had a significant impact on tracking down and eradicating the dangerous hornet species.

“Without the public’s support for this effort, it is unlikely we would be announcing the eradication of northern giant hornet today,” Sven Spichiger, WSDA pest program manager, said. “All of our nest detections resulted directly or indirectly from public reports. And half of our confirmed detections came from the public. The people of Washington can be proud that we did this by working together.”

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Despite the proclamation of eradication, WSDA will still conduct traps and studies in specific areas in Washington in 2025 out of precaution. A resident of Kitsap County did report a suspicious hornet sighting in October, but because WSDA was never able to obtain the hornet, officials were unable to confirm if it was a northern giant hornet.

“I’ve got to tell you, as an entomologist — I’ve been doing this for over 25 years now, and it is a rare day when the humans actually get to win one against the insects,” Spichiger said during a virtual news conference, according to AP.

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here