Asian Giant Hornet Watch Pt 1

Asian Giant Hornet Watch Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. The Washington Department of Agriculture is asking us all to be on the lookout for Asian Giant Hornets this summer as they try to track down the invasive pests that pose a threat to our honeybee colonies.

The DOA’s Karla Salp says the first sightings were two years ago, so they set up a system for reporting the sightings last year …

SALP … “It was really interesting to us because we were expecting to get habitat calls and we even set up a whole hotline and everything that was monitored, basically 24-7, for beekeepers to call if there was like an active hive attack. And, we didn’t get any calls and no reports of hives being attacked last year at all.”

And that, Salp says was really interesting …

SALP … “considering the year prior, you know, there were at least, one-two-three, at least four different beekeepers that believed they had Asian Giant Hornet hive attacks.”

Salp says the first report was from a beekeeper who had one of his hives attacked and another unconfirmed attack …

SALP … “And then there were two other reports where they actually saw them coming out of the hives, so we know that they were attacking them. All of these are up in Whatcom County.”

Have the hornets been sighted anywhere else in our state? …

SALP … “In Washington state, we only have confirmed sightings in Whatcom County. And then, there have been confirmed sightings also in British Columbia.”

Go to www.agr.wa.gov/hornets for any questions about the Asian Giant Hornets.

Tune in tomorrow for more on this year’s Asian Giant Hornet watch.

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