Northern giant hornets officially eradicated from Washington state

It’s official: the invasive northern giant hornet has been declared eradicated from Washington state.

“I am absolutely honored to announce that the last trap was removed on Dec. 5th, with no additional findings since 2021, reaching the threshold three-year mark,” Sven-Erik Spichiger, pest program manager with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, said at a Wednesday morning news conference. “And now we can officially say that eradication has been achieved. And it’s a significant victory for everybody who’s involved.”

According to the WSDA, Washington must go three years without detection to meet the regulatory definition of eradication.

There have been no confirmed sightings of the northern giant hornet, previously known as the Asian giant hornet or the more colorful “murder hornet,” since late summer 2021 when four nests were found and destroyed in Whatcom County in northern Washington along the Canadian border.

Native to temperate and tropical regions of East and Southeast Asia, including parts of China, India, Japan and Sri Lanka, Vespa mandarinia was first detected in the Pacific Northwest in late 2019, coinciding with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Washington turned out to be well prepared for the arrival of the northern giant hornet.

Owing to a spate of attacks by northern giant hornets in China in 2013 – including many fatalities – Spichiger said several states in America, including Washington, developed a framework to respond to the possible introduction of the insect in the United States.

“And this is something we had kind of in our back pocket since the year 2016, and in 2019, we decided to add invasive hornets to our state’s invasive species handbook,” Spichiger continued. “So, we were asking people to be on the lookout for it, and lo and behold that fall, our neighbors to the north [Canada] … actually found and destroyed a nest of northern giant hornets.”

Officials said making sure the hornets were gotten rid of in Washington was the result of a multi-year collaboration between the state and the federal government, as well as significant support from community members and groups – especially in Whatcom County – that involved trapping, tracking and killing the insects.

“It is truly amazing what we can do when we unite towards a common goal,” Nicole Russo, associate deputy administrator with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said.

She lauded the cooperation between the two Washingtons – state and D.C.

“We do not always experience this magnitude of support when an invasive or exotic pest is discovered, and we never take it for granted,” Russo said. “The close collaboration we enjoyed with our partners at WSDA is what made today possible and without them, we would not be here. So thank you and congratulations on eradicating the northern giant hornet from the United States.”

The invasive insect is the largest hornet in the world, with a 2-inch long body, a 3-inch wingspan, and a quarter-inch stinger capable of punching through normal clothing and even beekeeper suits.

In addition to the threat it poses to human safety – the hornet is responsible for as many as 50 deaths a year in Japan – the insect has caused sleepless nights for state officials worried about its predilection for killing honeybees that pollinate many crops in Washington’s multi-billion agriculture sector.

According to Spichiger, Washington dodged a bullet in preventing the northern giant hornet from establishing a foothold.

“The fact of the matter is if the entire community hadn’t stood up and taken action, there is a real good chance that we would just be living with northern giant hornets, even for years to come,” he said. “It is a very difficult task to eradicate an insect once it has become well established.”