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Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

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Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#41

Post by jameshart »

Exmoor wrote: post #19

It makes me a little nauseous to think about all the resources going to tracking down these insects, but this is truly an area where an ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of cure. The scope of North America's invasive species problem is enormous. For many folks in urban areas, it's possible that you might go your whole day only encountering one native bird species (American Crow), but a whole host of invasive s…

‘All the resources’ make you nauseous? Seems like a weird reaction.

Washington State department of agriculture’s budget is public information; they spend about a quarter of a billion dollars a year on all their programs. I can’t imagine this particular operation is making much of a dent in that overall spend. According to the captions of those photographs, they have entomologists and pest control specialists on staff already. Salaries are also public. Sven Spichinger, shown in one of those pictures, Managing Entomologist, is on $87,000 a year - whether he’s hunting for murder hornets or not, presumably. There are three different levels of ‘Pest Biologist’ job in the department. It kind of looks like this is a project that is taking up the time of a few people who they already had on staff, to deal with exactly this kind of problem.

Does all government spending make you nauseous, or only when it’s visibly helping?

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#43

Post by dimitrios1 »

jameshart wrote: post #41
Exmoor wrote: post #19

It makes me a little nauseous to think about all the resources going to tracking down these insects, but this is truly an area where an ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of cure. The scope of North America's invasive species problem is enormous. For many folks in urban areas, it's possible that you might go your whole day only encountering one native bird species (American Crow), but a whole host of invasive s…

‘All the resources’ make you nauseous? Seems like a weird reaction. Washington State department of agriculture’s budget is public information; they spend about a quarter of a billion dollars a year on all their programs. I can’t imagine this particular operation is making much of a dent in that overall spend. According to the captions of those photographs, they have entomologists and pest control specialists on staff…

Now how much money we spend eating out when we could be saving by cooking large meals and eating leftovers, that makes me nauseous.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#44

Post by schemescape »

samcheng wrote: post #5

I've never had to deal with a murder hornet infestation, but I can approve of their 'vacuum' method for clearing yellowjacket nests in high-traffic areas. Partially fill a shop vac with soapy water, stick the nozzle as close to the nest entrance as possible, then turn on the vacuum and hear the wasps get sucked into the machine as they try to enter or exit the nest. It takes a few hours, and potentially a couple of s…

I read that they can’t see well in the dark, so I deal with them at night. It’s a bit unnerving hearing them fly around when you can’t see them, but I’ve never been stung :)

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#46

Post by fnbr »

Exmoor wrote: post #19

It makes me a little nauseous to think about all the resources going to tracking down these insects, but this is truly an area where an ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of cure. The scope of North America's invasive species problem is enormous. For many folks in urban areas, it's possible that you might go your whole day only encountering one native bird species (American Crow), but a whole host of invasive s…

I’mfrom Alberta. My favorite party trick when talking to non-native Albertans is to pull up the “world rat population” map:

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/657947826782505650/

I have no idea how accurate it is, of course.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#47

Post by forgotmypw17 »

jameshart wrote: post #41
Exmoor wrote: post #19

It makes me a little nauseous to think about all the resources going to tracking down these insects, but this is truly an area where an ounce of prevention is worth many pounds of cure. The scope of North America's invasive species problem is enormous. For many folks in urban areas, it's possible that you might go your whole day only encountering one native bird species (American Crow), but a whole host of invasive s…

‘All the resources’ make you nauseous? Seems like a weird reaction. Washington State department of agriculture’s budget is public information; they spend about a quarter of a billion dollars a year on all their programs. I can’t imagine this particular operation is making much of a dent in that overall spend. According to the captions of those photographs, they have entomologists and pest control specialists on staff…

Every effort we make today involves producing lots of plastic, burning diesel, and other ways which wreck both human and animal habitats.

This effort to destroy one hornet's nest probably had direct result of bringing someone a little closer towards having asthma and indirectly, through supply chain effects, costing a few dozen insect colonies, animals, and plants their lives somewhere else in the world.

Now that you mention it, it does make me a bit nauseated.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#48

Post by dpcan »

ed25519FUUU wrote: post #31
samcheng wrote: post #5

I've never had to deal with a murder hornet infestation, but I can approve of their 'vacuum' method for clearing yellowjacket nests in high-traffic areas. Partially fill a shop vac with soapy water, stick the nozzle as close to the nest entrance as possible, then turn on the vacuum and hear the wasps get sucked into the machine as they try to enter or exit the nest. It takes a few hours, and potentially a couple of s…

For those wondering about the soapy water, it effectively suffocates the hornets because soap allows the water to penetrate and clog the spiracles which prevents them from breathing. Soapy water is actually a powerful insecticide against many arthropods: https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/insects/insect-c...

It does seem to work on insects resilient to other poisons for sure.

We used a mix of vinegar, soap, and water in a spray bottle to rid our patio of earwigs this year and it seemed to work incredibly well. The insecticides we were spraying them with before trying the soap did absolutely nothing but cost $7 a can.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#49

Post by Giorgi »

samcheng wrote: post #5

I've never had to deal with a murder hornet infestation, but I can approve of their 'vacuum' method for clearing yellowjacket nests in high-traffic areas. Partially fill a shop vac with soapy water, stick the nozzle as close to the nest entrance as possible, then turn on the vacuum and hear the wasps get sucked into the machine as they try to enter or exit the nest. It takes a few hours, and potentially a couple of s…

>No fancy beekeeper suit necessary

What? have you seen size of that hornet? I am wearing space-suite if available.

Re: Washington crews destroy first U.S. “murder hornet” nest

#50

Post by petertodd »

umvi wrote: post #35
ethbr0 wrote: post #21

1994: We'll need airtight space suits for an Ebola outbreak. 2020: Surgical masks are a bit much to expect people to wear during a pandemic, Ebola has been circulating in Congo since 2014, and we'll need airtight space suits for a murder hornet outbreak. Truly, the 90s were a simpler time.

Had we all been wearing surgical masks in public since the 90s, probably well over a million lives would have been saved by now from flu deaths alone. Basically, since the 90s we've put a much much higher value on human life. I expect mask usage to extend far beyond covid and handshaking to cease being a cultural greeting.

Why do you think that?

COVID-19 has become more infectious over the course of the pandemic, with a strain that results in higher viral loads becoming predominant: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32697968/

It's hard to compare across countries. But mask-wearing Japan and South Korea have higher rates of flu and pneumonia deaths than the US/Canada/Europe: https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/influenza...

As surgical masks are much less than 100% effective even in ideal conditions, let alone actual wear, it wouldn't be surprising if more usage of them would just be an evolutionary pressure for flu to have higher viral output. Quite similar to how widespread use of less than 100% effective anti-bacterial agents just results in bacteria evolving resistance, reducing the usefulness of those agents for the most vulnerable part of the population who need them most.

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