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“It only takes a handful of Asian giant hornets to go to a hive and completely wipe out all of the adult [bees] in a matter of hours,” said Karla Salp, WSDA’s acting communications director. “We’re talking about thousands and thousands of bees that can be killed in just a matter of hours.” 

Local residents are also vital to the detection and research process, said Sven Spichiger, WSDA managing entomologist, during a press conference Tuesday. This year, the department is asking locals to participate in tracking as “citizen scientists” through the , where residents can report paper wasp nests that are on their properties. 

“We’re asking citizens who want to participate, basically, to adopt [a paper wasp nest] on their property, report that location to WSDA on our online application, and simply check back in once a week to tell us how it’s doing,” he said.