Murder Hornet Now Eradicated in the United States Say Authorities

Amaze Lab

Northern giant hornets, more commonly called murder hornets, are dangerous because they have no natural predators. Now, after nearly half a decade of endeavoring to eradicate the Asian natives, the Washington State Department of Agriculture says they have been officially removed from US soil.

Transcript

00:00The first invasive murder hornet nest was discovered back in 2020 when authorities attached

00:08a tracker to a scout.

00:10Northern giant hornets, as they are also called, are dangerous because they have no natural

00:14predators in the US.

00:15They also go after honeybees, a species already on decline in the United States.

00:20Murder hornets can also kill humans with their stings, killing between 50 to 75 people a

00:25year, though it would likely take many dozens of stings to do so.

00:29Now after nearly a decade of endeavoring to eradicate the Asian natives, the Washington

00:33State Department of Agriculture says they have been officially removed from US soil.

00:38After their first successful nest destruction, authorities in the area got to work setting

00:41up around 1,000 hornet traps all over the state in 2022.

00:46By 2023, they had discovered and raised four murder hornet nests, some containing upwards

00:51of around 1,500 stinging insects.

00:54It has now been a year since any have been found, which is why they now feel safe making

00:58the announcement that the invasion is over.

01:00Still, experts say we must remain vigilant, because they got here once, and they could

01:05do it again.

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