SEATTLE, Wash. — The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the eradication of the northern giant hornet from the U.S.
It’s been three years since a confirmed sighting of the insect.
In October, a community member reported a suspicious sighting near Port Orchard, but the WSDA was never able to obtain the hornet to identify the species.
The northern giant hornet was first detected in North America in British Columbia, Canada in August 2019. The first discovery in Washington state was in Blaine a few months later in December.
Although the two detections were close in time and location, the USDA says DNA evidence suggests the insects originated from different countries.
WSDA found and eradicated a single hornet nest in October 2020 and three nests in August and September 2021. All nests were inside alder tree cavities. WSDA continued state and public trapping efforts through 2024 in Whatcom County.
“Without the public’s support for this effort, it is unlikely we would be announcing the eradication of northern giant hornet today,” Sven Spichiger, WSDA pest program manager, said. “All of our nest detections resulted directly or indirectly from public reports. And half of our confirmed detections came from the public. The people of Washington can be proud that we did this by working together.”
Had the hornets become established in the U.S., they could have posed a significant threat to honeybees and other native insects. The WSDA says northern giant hornets can kill an entire honeybee hive in as little as 90 minutes. Their sting is also more dangerous than that of a honeybee.
“We are proud of this landmark victory in the fight against invasive species,” said Dr. Mark Davidson Deputy Administrator at USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. “By tackling this threat head-on, we protected not only pollinators and crops, but also the industries, communities, and ecosystems that depend on them.”