murder will out

December 18, 2024 6:29 PM

Remember back in the early 2020s when life was easy and we had nothing to worry about but deadly murder hornets? Well, good news! We don't even have to worry about them anymore, at least in the US: The USDA reports the murder hornet is now eradicated.
posted by mittens (14 comments total)

Scientists destroyed the nest just as a number of queens were just beginning to emerge, officials said.

"is this a stand-up fight, or a bug hunt"
posted by clavdivs at 6:38 PM on December 18 [13 favorites]

I was going with:

"I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say kill 'em all!"
posted by muddgirl at 6:43 PM on December 18 [12 favorites]

Yes, another north american-centric post ;-)

Giant hornets have been sighted in Europe for the first time

‘Murder hornets’ have a new common name: Northern giant hornet
posted by sammyo at 7:00 PM on December 18 [2 favorites]

I just want to note that this is boring, important, anonymous government work, done by career civil servants who care deeply about their work. It is also the kind of thing that gets cut, or at best, level funded, year after year. It isn’t unlikely that this entire chunk of the USDA will be proposed to be cut altogether in coming budgets.
posted by rockindata at 7:40 PM on December 18 [33 favorites]

As a certain American has recently taken to hyperventilating about threats invading the US from the godless lands of Canada, just going to highlight the following from the AP piece:

DNA evidence suggested the populations found in British Columbia and Washington were not related and appeared to originate from different countries. There also have been no confirmed reports in British Columbia since 2021, and the nonprofit Invasive Species Centre in Canada has said the hornet is also considered eradicated there.
posted by senor biggles at 8:28 PM on December 18 [2 favorites]

I'll take the win!
posted by Sparky Buttons at 8:30 PM on December 18 [3 favorites]

Sad news for us murder hornet fans, but we had a good run
posted by jy4m at 9:12 PM on December 18 [3 favorites]

now do the health insurance executive hornets
posted by away for regrooving at 9:13 PM on December 18 [6 favorites]

We finally got one nice thing in the 2020's????
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:38 PM on December 18 [1 favorite]

I dunno, I kinda feel sorry for the murder hornets. It's us humans who are the violent ones.
posted by jeremias at 4:33 AM on December 19

No solidarity with murder hornets!
posted by cupcakeninja at 5:11 AM on December 19 [2 favorites]

I kinda feel sorry for the murder hornets. It's us humans who are the violent ones.

Murder hornets were going after bees, and that was threatening crops here because without bees as pollinators then you don't get things like apples or peaches or cucumbers or or or....

I'll take this win.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:13 AM on December 19 [8 favorites]

the murder hornets were a kind of solution.
posted by graywyvern at 9:17 AM on December 19 [3 favorites]

The whole

...The hornet can sting through most beekeeper suits, deliver nearly seven times the amount of venom as a honey bee, and sting multiple times.

part is enough convince me otherwise.
posted by y2karl at 3:25 PM on December 19