Washington State Scientists Warn An Asian Giant ‘Murder Hornet’ Has Escaped Captivity
Scientists in Washington State, who were tracking their second Asian giant “murder hornet” captured alive, now warn that the dangerous insect has escaped captivity.
The pain-inflicting hornet was one of several captured by researchers at Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), assisted by others at the University of Washington; where the scientists were using dental floss to strap a Bluetooth-tracking device on the hornets to track them back to their nests and destroy them. The first one that escaped had a tracker glued on, that eventually became loose after the hornet flew into a thicket.
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While the hornets pack a powerful and painful sting, human deaths from attacks are rare. Therefore, scientists are more concerned about the the Pacific Northwest’s honeybee population being wiped out versus human attacks. They warn if enough hornets procreate and destroy the bees, it’ll wreak havoc on the agricultural industry.
Furthermore, an entomologist with WSDA, Sven Spichiger, says before losing their subject hornet, “We did get an initial signal of flight. We were able to meet with several neighborhood property owners and get a few more eyewitness accounts of seeing hornets earlier the week before or earlier in the summer so we are starting to narrow down exactly where the hornets’ nest is that is in that area”
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