Monday, October 26, 2020

Got 'em

 Murder Hornet nest destroyed!

On Saturday the first Asian Hornet nest located in northwestern Washington state was eradicated by department of agriculture workers wearing special suits to protect them. The Asian hornets are native to Japan, Korea and other East Asian countries. It is not clear how they arrived to the USA, but they are an invasive species and are very dangerous to bees. These hornets can destroy an entire bee hive in a few hours. Bees are essential for pollinating both wild and domestic plants. The Asian hornets are also dangerous to humans because they have unusually strong venom that causes extremely painful stings as well as very long stingers that can penetrate cloth.They also spit venom at your eyes and can cause serious damage to your retina. Consequently the workers destroying the nest had to wear special 'space' suits that have thick armor and shields from the spitting venom. The hornets were located on Thursday after some of the hornets were captured in traps and had tiny radio transmitters tied to them, which led the department of agriculture workers to the nest. These workers used a powerful vacuum to suck the hornets out of the tree, but also had to cut down the tree to look for larva and the queen. Although this operation was a success, there maybe other nests that need to be located and destroyed. See the articles to learn more:



'Murder hornet': First nest found in US eradicated with vacuum hose

Question: Do you think invasive species should always be eradicated?  [Invasive: tending to spread especially in a quick or aggressive manner (Merriam-Webster Dictionary invasive)]









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