The Asian Giant hornet is the largest hornet in the world as has been spotted in B.C. in recent years.

Image Credit: USGS/Flickr

Asian giant hornets could seriously damage our agricultural industry if they were to get established in the province, which is why the Invasive Council of B.C. is asking the public to keep reporting sightings.

The giant hornets were first discovered in the province in Nanaimo in 2019 and multiple individual dead hornets were found in the Southern Fraser Valley region last year.

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Gail Wallin is the Executive Director for the council.

She said since the hornets were discovered in the province, the council has received numerous reports and photos of sightings from the public. Thankfully, none of them were identified as the giants this year, but a few were last year.

“We are really pleased that the public continues to report sightings, even if they are not correct,” she said. “We need these reports and photos so we can act on them and work with experts to identify the insects right away. No report is a bad report so our hope is the public will keep making them.”

Asian giant hornets are found throughout South and East Asia and were likely brought to North America accidentally on container ships. No nests have been found on the mainland of the province since November 2020. In October 2020, Washington State officials destroyed a nest directly over the U.S./Canada border in Blaine, Washington.

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“There are hornets in Washington and they are not going to respect a border so we need the public to keep looking and reporting,” Wallin said.

Asian giant hornets nest in underground cavities or in tree stumps and feed on insects, including honey bees. They deliver a painful, venomous sting.

You can view a map of Asian giant hornet sightings in Canada and the United States here.

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