‘Murder hornet’ tagged with tracking device escapes as Washington state struggles to find & destroy nests before ‘slaughter phase’
13 Oct, 2020 04:42
Researchers in Washington State have again failed to live-track a massive “murder hornet,” with the fearsome bug going fugitive as local officials attempt to locate and destroy nests before the insect’s bee-killing season begins.
The latest tracking attempt saw a public entomologist with the Washington State Department of Agriculture fix a tracking device to a female Asian giant hornet – better known by its more intimidating moniker, ‘murder hornet’ – but the bug made a break into a forest and the device went dark.
“The team and neighbors tracked the hornet from tree to tree for about an hour before losing her signal in the forest,” the department said in an update on Monday. “Both staff and several neighbors spent the remainder of the afternoon searching the area for the tracking signal (which would transmit for approximately 12 hours) but, unfortunately, it could not be located.”
https://www.rt.com/usa/503310-murder-hornet-escapes-washington/