LSU AgCenter: Murder Hornets Likely No Threat to Louisiana

Are the murder hornets coming to kill us all?  Not likely, says LSU AgCenter entomologist Kristen Healey.

There were a handful of these hornets found in Washington state but they were quickly collected by wildlife officials. Healey also points out that those hornets in Washington were collected between September to December of 2019, and that no others have been found in the USA since.

She says humans aren't the desired target of murder hornets, but another species has much more to worry about:

Thirty (murder hornets) wasps can go in and kill 30,000 to 40,000 honeybees in just a matter of hours.

About a year ago, my kids were really into a YouTube series called Brave Wilderness hosted by Coyote Peterson. He started a new series where he would travel around the world and test out the insect sting pain index scale. He was getting stung by insects like the bullet ant, the cow killer, and yes, the now-famed murder hornet.

Why someone would put themselves through this, I have no idea. I guess YouTube is just paying him really well. However, the series is highly entertaining, and I recommend watching it.

A few days ago, he posted the video below with a lot of information about the murder hornets and yes, there is footage of him getting stung by one.