Officials confirm that the invasive murder wasp has disappeared from the United States

It’s time to pour one in to kill the wasp. Federal and state officials in Washington announced this week that the northern giant hornet (Vespa Mandarinia) has been officially eliminated from the United States.

Officials from the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported the good news on Wednesday. The decision to declare the insect eradicated was made after three years of no confirmed sightings in the state or elsewhere in the country. Scientists were concerned that the pest could become a prolific predator of honey bees and other native pollinators if it gained a foothold in the region.

“We are proud of this historic victory in the war against invasive species,” said Mark Davidson, deputy director of USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. statement From WSDA.

V. Mandarin It is the largest hornet living today. It is called the murder hornet because of its ferocity towards other insects, not towards humans (however, its stings may be responsible for up to 50 human deaths year). Hornets are known to slaughter entire beehives within hours, often by decapitating their prey. They come from Asia and It started to appear for the first time In the United States and Canada along the Pacific Northwest in 2019.

Over the next few years, officials, scientists, and the public waged a small-scale war against the hornets. People will spot a potential hornet nest in their neighborhood, call a local entomologist, and once the sighting is confirmed, scientists track down and eliminate the nest. At the height of its invasion, scientists killed up to 1500 wasps For every nest. But since 2021, the hornet itself has not appeared in the state, perhaps.

WDSA received a photo of the “suspicious hornet” from a Kitsap County resident earlier this October. But scientists were unable to obtain an actual sample of that vision. As a precaution, WDSA set traps and encouraged residents in the area to report any foxy-looking hornets, but no other evidence of a renewed presence of the hornets has emerged. It is possible that this initial report was simply a misidentification (something that happens frequently with… These insects in particular), but the WSDA plans to place traps in the county next year just in case.

“Although they have now been eliminated from the state, we will always keep an eye on them and encourage community members to do the same. They got here once and they can do it again,” Sven Spichiger, WSDA’s pest program manager, said in a statement. .

Unfortunately, the murder hornet is not the only one Wasp kills invasive bees This has been causing problems in the United States lately. Both domestic and farmed bees continue to face Many other dangers And threatening their population numbers. But for once, it seems we have been able to stop an environmental catastrophe before it is too late.