Here’s where Whatcom‘s second confirmed Asian giant hornet was found — and stepped on
Another Asian giant hornet has been found in Whatcom County — this time in northeast Bellingham.
A resident reported it Saturday, June 6, to the Washington State Department of Agriculture using the online reporting form at agr.wa.gov/hornets, according to Karla Salp, spokeswoman for the state agency.
“The reporting party found the specimen on their porch. The specimen was wiggling on the porch and they stepped on it, killing it,” officials posted on the agency’s Facebook page.
The agency picked up the dead hornet earlier this week. State and federal labs confirmed on Thursday, June 11, that it was an Asian giant hornet, Salp said.
The one in Bellingham was more than 15 miles from the next closest confirmed sighting near Custer, which was found on a road on May 27.
Together, they are the first and second confirmed sighting of the invasive hornet in Washington state in 2020.
It is the first confirmed sighting for Bellingham.
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The state agency doesn’t provide the exact location of where the hornets have been found, although it does track sightings on a map that gives a general idea. The map is expected to be updated on Thursday, June 11, to include the Bellingham hornet discovery, officials said.
It is leading the effort to find and destroy the invasive Asian giant hornet, known for its painful sting when threatened and feared for the threat it poses to honeybees and, by extension, the hundreds of crops in Washington state that the bees pollinate.
The Washington state Department of Agriculture and members of the Mt. Baker Beekeepers Association in Whatcom County started setting traps for the invasive pests early in spring after they hornets were first seen in the county last year.
A Blaine-area homeowner found a dead one on his property on Dec. 8, 2019, and reported seeing a live one near a hummingbird feeder before it flew into a nearby wooded area.
Those 2019 sightings were the first of the invasive hornets in Washington state and the U.S.
About the size of an adult thumb, the Asian giant hornet, or Vespa mandarinia, is the world’s largest hornet and a predator of honeybees and other insects. They are identifiable by their large yellow/orange heads.
The bulk of trapping will occur in summer. The goal is to find and destroy the hornets and prevent the pests from reproducing and taking hold in the Pacific Northwest.
State agriculture officials said that effort will start with 300 experimental bottle traps that will be placed in late June or early July in the Blaine and Custer area.
The invasive hornets’ native range is Asia. They also are known as the Japanese hornet, yak-killer hornet, the giant sparrow bee and popularly as murder hornets after a New York Times article.
Report it
If you think you’ve seen an Asian giant hornet, the Washington State Department of Agriculture wants you to report it. Here’s how:
▪ Go online to the Hornet Watch Report Form.
▪ Email PestProgram@agr.wa.gov.
▪ Call 800-443-6684.
▪ Stay updated at the Asian giant hornet watch Facebook group.
Learn more at agr.wa.gov/hornets, including how members of the public can create bottle traps for Asian giant hornets.
