Asian Giant Hornet Pt 2
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. Asian Giant Hornet queens have now been found in Washington state four times since last fall and have been making the news billed many times as the “Murder Hornet.”
Bayer Entomologist Dick Rogers says the 2-inch long hornets got the name due to their ability to quickly wipe out honey bee colonies, but also carries a wallop of a sting …
ROGERS … “I would like to downplay that terminology just because its, its already got a name like ‘giant,’ already it creates this vision of it is a large insect and it may have the potential to harm people … and yes it can.”
The Asian Giant Hornet’s sting, Rogers says, would certainly hurt …
ROGERS … “It’s not necessarily going to kill you, but it definitely will hurt like heck and its numbers aren’t going to be so great as, for example, the Africanized bees, honey bees, or some of the other diseases and pests we have that actually cause more harm to humans than this one will.”
But, Rogers says it’s probably a good idea for everyone to learn more about these Hornets …
ROGERS … “You can actually go to a site that’s dedicated to this hornet and there’s a Facebook page called ‘Asian Giant Hornet Watch’ page, and that’s operated by the Washington State Department of Agriculture. You can also go to their website which has a section dedicated to the hornets.”
Listen tomorrow for more on when we might start seeing these Asian Giant Hornets and the question, are we overreacting?
