State entomologists have won the opening battle against murder hornets in Washington, successfully removing the first nest discovered in the US. Officials say they found the nest located in the cavity of a tree, on Thursday and by Saturday they were able to shut down the nest and remove the hornets.
The nest held between 100 and 200 hornets. "Got 'em," the state's Department of Agriculture tweeted. Crews tracked down the nest after weeks of searching. After receiving permission from the owner of the land in which the dead tree was located, a team of workers dressed from head to toe in protective suits vacuumed the insects out of their nest.
The hornets are less threatening to humans than they sound; the CDC says bees, wasps, and run-of-the-mill hornets kill more Americans each year than murder hornets kill people in Asia, where they're usually found.
Source: Science Alert
(photo Getty Images)