State setting traps for 'Asian giant hornets' in Whatcom County

NEAR BLAINE, Wash. -- They’re big, they’re invasive, and now the state has begun to set traps in Whatcom County to try to catch the Asian giant hornets.

Two dead hornets were found in Washington last December, experts said.

Chris Looney, an entomologist with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, was on a mission Thursday as he checked a handful of traps near Blaine.

He searched for any sign of Asian giant hornets with the goal of stopping and eradicating them before they have a chance to spread.

"As gruesome as that sounds, that’s our goal is to kill these off and keep them from establishing in Washington state," Looney said.

The traps are filled with different lures, including orange juice and wine, Looney said.

The tracking program is based off things that have been effective in Japan and Korea, where people have been living with the species for a very long time, Looney said.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture is trying to figure out what works best here - without catching other insects, Looney said.

The hornets have an appetite for honey bees that pollinate important northwest crops like apples, blueberries, and cherries.

Right now, the hornets’ threat to the commercial bee industry is unknown.

"We do know it has the potential to be a pest," Looney said. "It would be one more thing that the beekeepers have to manage that we would like for them not to have to manage. And the worst cast scenario in my mind is it could force some small beekeepers to just give up."

Looney didn't find any Asian giant hornets in the traps he checked Thursday, he said. That's something he expected.

He plans to keep searching and record everything he finds, he said.

The state's current experiment will run for two more weeks then be repeated in the summer, Looney said.