Georgia and South Carolina are working to eradicate an invasive, bee-eating hornet

0:00The yellow-legged hornet is originally from Asia, but this invasive species is quickly spreading across two southern U.S. states and its threatening honeybee colonies there. South Carolina Public Radio's Victoria Hanson reports, yellow-legged hornets stalk honeybees. They hover near hives and weight for polylating bees to return from foraging. Then the hornets ambush and dismember the bees, devouring only the middle, the thorax to feed to their young. Long time beekeeper David Arnold of Hilton Head Island says his colonies have become crime seeds with honeybees reluctant to leave home. They watch their sisters get eaten on the way back in and they effectively hunker down. Arnold says he's lost numerous colonies to this invasive species, now preying upon South Carolina and George's low country. He farms out these to pollinate produce. I've had farmers come and watch the hornets eat the bees and weep.

1:01Just weep. My number one question is what's going to happen to agriculture? That's Brad Kavin, he worries about pollination. He leads the states invasive species response team for yellow-legged hornets. Kavin hunts hornets with teammates like Caroline Oatley. I just heard one. It literally sounds like... Oatley tries to track the neon-legged killers by catching them. She's armed with a paint pen. And a net. So I've got her... I've got her pinned down. Oatley carefully paints the hornet's belly bright orange. Ben releases it. We're going to wait. We're going to see how many minutes it takes for her to come back. And that'll potentially give us a closer location over that nest is. But hornet nest can be hard to find, even though some grow as large as an exercise ball. The light brown layers are often tucked beneath the roof or in trees hidden by palm fronds and Spanish moss. This is the perfect location for an invasive species like this to take hold.

2:02Kavin says the hornets first appeared in Georgia in 2023. Most likely hitchhiking aboard a cargo ship. He says a year later, his team found 16 deaths in South Carolina. This year, they've destroyed roughly 500. Kavin says his team relies on federal funding. In Georgia, trackers also get state funding. They've removed about 80 nests this year. Now North Carolina has had sightings too. Exterminator Nate Krellis is ready to take out a nest. But first, he puts on protective clothes. Then, he faces off with angry hornets at the entrance. I'm going to use a piece of a sponge to cover the hole. Stop them from leaving. Krellis injects the nest with an insecticide. He removes the grapefruit sized nest from beneath the porch. Bigger nests are often the aunties' ladders reach. That's when tree climbers are called in. They use special ropes and machines to catapult as high as 100 feet.

3:07They cut a limb and the nest comes down. He can hold thousands of hornets. Removing nests can be costly. Kavin says as much as $3,000 each. On Hilton Head Island, Michael Lewis' wife has spotted three. She haven't been floating in our pool and just looked up and said, Mike, that's not a pine cone up there. Kavin encourages people to look up and report nests. He says his team needs help eradicating this elusive and aggressive predator. For NPR News, I'm Victoria Hanson on Hilton Head Island.