Kitsap County beekeepers on edge as northern giant hornets potentially threaten hives
A hornet that can wipe out entire hives of honey bees may have made new inroads into our state, and now scientists are scrambling to address the threat before it has a chance to devastate the agricultural industry.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) received a report this week of a possible northern giant hornet sighting in Kitsap County. The person who made the report saw it on a window sill but does not currently have it in her possession. WSDA said the reporting party told them she would attempt to get it for them.
Scientists want to run genetic tests on the specimen to see if it is connected to a series of nests that were eradicated in Whatcom County three years ago.
“We can't say that it is for sure until we get the specimen and we're able to put our eyes on it, and our entomologists can test it and see exactly for sure,” said Amber Betts, a spokesperson for WSDA.
In the meantime, many local beekeepers are on high alert. Jeffrey Rupert tends several hives around Kitsap County, including one at Into the Blue Farm in Bremerton.
“I make sure that my hives are grunt-heavy so they have enough food storage for the winter,” Rupert said. Northern giant hornets are considerably larger than honey bees and feed on their larvae. They once earned the name “murder hornets” because they would kill all the adults to get to that food.
“In just a couple of hours, a squadron of those hornets will converge on a colony of bees and will kill off all the adult honey bees, and then they'll go in after the baby bees to take back to the hornet brood,” said Sandy Fanara with West Sound Beekeepers Association. “Once a hornet colony was to find a bee hive, it's likely that the bee hive would be killed before the beekeeper knew."
Honey bees are major pollinators for crops, and if they are hunted down and decimated by an invasion of northern giant hornets, farms may not be able to grow the food people need.
“If the hornet was to get established in Washington state, it would be very difficult to eradicate it from moving down the coast,” Fanara said. “You think about the huge, vast farms in southern California, and there's lots and lots of honey bees kept down there."
Traps have gone up around Burley and in other locations in case any more northern giant hornets are in the area. The public is also being asked to report any potential sightings of these northern giant hornets to the WSDA so scientists can track down these pests before they have a chance to spread.
“Our best strategy is to get rid of them before they get a foothold,” Fanara said.
