UWS Professor Addresses The Risk Of ‘Murder Hornets’

2020 has been a busy year for things to worry about.  Not only has a global pandemic hit us during a Presidential election year, but now there's talk about a so-called "murder hornet" set to attack the United States this summer.  While I realize that people like to work themselves up over things (sensationalism sells), the experts are telling us that truly there is nothing to worry about when it comes to these "murder hornets".

First - the giant hornet has been here in the United States already.  Entomologists confer that the Asian-giant hornet was first spotted in our country last year - 2019.  Yes - their sting is very potent; those same entomologists suggest that as few as a dozen stings all at once could be fatal, however your chances of (a) encountering the hornet and (b) getting stung that many times in one session are slim.

Locally, the University of Wisconsin-Superior posted a piece about the "murder hornet" on their website. UWS-long time biology professor and honey bee apiary manager Dr. Edward Burkett offers his insight on what these hornets are and the potential threats (or non-threats) that they pose.

The biggest take-away from Dr. Burkett's conversation are these elements:

• We probably won't see them here in the Northland - at least not this summer.
• The "murder hornets" don't pose a direct significant threat to humans.
• "Murder hornets" do pose a threat to the honeybee population in the United States; this poses probably the greatest danger to our way of life due to the diminishing population of honeybees caused by Colony Collapse Disorder.

Click here to read Dr. Burkett's full report on the "murder hornets".