Murder Hornets : Deadly Asian Invasive pest Asian GAINT hornet has entered North America<br /><br />#MurderHornets #AsianGaintHornets #DeadlyMurderHornets<br /><br />An invasive hornet species slaughters honeybees, can be deadly to humans and unfortunately, has been spotted in the United States.<br /><br />A number of Asian giant hornet sightings in the Pacific Northwest has raised alarm after a nickname for the predators started trending on Twitter, "Murder Hornet." While experts have been tracking the invasive species in the U.S. for months, a New York Times feature published Saturday brought nickname to the national consciousness. <br /><br />It's a fittingly upsetting nickname, based on a lengthy March presentation from Washington State Department of Agriculture. It opened with a slide listing other ominous titles for the the largest hornet in the world, "yak killer hornet" and "giant sparrow bee" among them.<br /><br />This spring, the Washington state Department of Agriculture started hunting for Asian giant hornets after two confirmed sightings of the predator. <br /><br />And while officials are concerned, especially for local honeybee populations, the danger to the average person is low at this time.<br /><br />Sightings have been limited to the Pacific Northwest, although the smaller European hornet is sometimes mistaken for the Asian giant hornet on the East Coast.<br /><br />For humans unfortunate enough come in contact with an Asian giant hornet, A simple advice is to "Just run away."<br /><br />The predators kill between 40 and 50 people annually in Japan, many victims suffer from allergies, but some have died from the potency of the venom alone.<br /><br />Rare complications can include localized necrosis, respiratory failure, kidney failure, liver damage and blood clots. <br /><br />But the more immediate danger in the United States is to an already vulnerable honeybee population. <br /><br />lifecycle of Asian giant hornets attack individual honeybees in the early summer, turning prey into a "meatball" to feed to hornet larvae. Soon, the hornets abandon this "hunting phase" in favor of the “slaughter phase”, the wholesale killing of bee colonies so the hornets can plunder their hives.<br /><br />Efforts to contain the spread of the hornets, which prey on virtually any insect in addition to honeybees, have been ramping up in recent weeks.<br /><br />One thing local residents can do to help, Report suspected sightings to the Washington State Department of Agriculture.
