Agriculture and wildlife officials have announced that they have eradicated the infamous “murder hornet” from the US, five years after the headline-generating insects were first spotted in Washington state.
Northern giant hornets – the bugs’ official name – have not been detected in the US for three years, the Washington State Department of Agriculture announced on Wednesday.
The invasive insects, which are native to Asia, have a powerful sting which can kill a human. They can also spit venom, although they are not normally aggressive against humans unless disturbed.
They target honeybees, which pollinate crops, and can destroy an entire bee colony in just a matter of hours.
The hornets were eradicated using traps after sightings were reported by the public in the north-west corner of Washington state.
They were first identified on US soil in December 2019, about four months after they were found in Canada’s British Columbia province.
The first US nest was eradicated in 2020 after a tracking beacon was attached to a wayward hornet. When it returned to its nest, officials followed it and destroyed the entire colony.
“We are proud of this landmark victory in the fight against invasive species,” Mark Davidson of the US Department of Agriculture said in a news release.
In 2022, scientists set around 1,000 hornet traps around the state. In 2023, they found one nest, which they swiftly destroyed, containing nearly 1,500 hornets “in various stages of development”.
In total, four nests were discovered and destroyed.
In a news conference on Wednesday, officials said that there is still a chance that the hornets could return, or that other types of dangerous invasive hornets may someday make it to US soil.
“They got here once and they could do it again,” said Sven Spichiger, a pest specialist at the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
In a news release announcing the eradication, officials noted that a member of the public reported a possible sighting of one of the hornets in October 2024.
Although unconfirmed, officials plan to place traps in the area.
While attacks on humans are fairly rare, the 2-inch (5cm) insects are reported to kill from 50 to 75 people each year.
In 2022, the Entomological Society of America changed its name to northern giant hornet from its previous “Asian giant hornet” due to concerns about anti-Asian bias.