FILE - In this Oct. 24, 2020, file photo, a Washington state Department of Agriculture worker holds two of the dozens of Asian giant hornets vacuumed from a tree in Blaine, Wash. Authorities say they've found the first Asian giant hornet nest of 2021 in a rural area east of Blaine. State entomologists will now develop a plan to eradicate the nest.
Elaine Thompson / AP
Officials say they’ve destroyed a second nest of giant hornets found in northwestern Washington this year and are preparing to take down a third.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture said in a Facebook post that a team eradicated the nest Saturday in northern Whatcom County, near the town of Blaine along the Canadian border.
It said a third nest this season has been located and that planning is underway to eradicate it.
The nests have been within a few miles of each other. The first nest this year was destroyed in August. The hornets were first detected in the U.S. in 2019 in Whatcom County.
Asian giant hornets are an invasive pest not native to the U.S. They are the world’s largest hornet at 2 inches long, and a predator of other insects, including honey bees that pollinate many of the crops in Washington’s agriculture industry.
While not particularly aggressive toward humans, their sting is extremely painful and repeated stings, though rare, can kill. They’re sometimes called “murder hornets” because they prey on other bees.