In 2023, America’s first live yellow-legged hornet, a bee-killing predator, was found in Georgia

Georgia officials trap 866 invasive yellow-legged hornets, eradicate 44 nests this year State agriculture teams in Georgia have trapped at least 866 invasive yellow-legged hornets and destroyed 44 active nests so far this year, according to official data released by the Georgia Department of Agriculture.The figures, listed on the state's public yellow-legged hornet eradication dashboard, show the latest progress in an intensive control campaign that began after the first live specimen of the bee-killing insect was confirmed in Georgia in 2023.The invasive pest, which is native to Southeast Asia, poses a major threat to natural pollinators, farm crops, and food production across the southern United States.State officials said the hornets have been confirmed in five Georgia counties this year: Bryan, Bulloch, Chatham, Effingham, and Liberty.The scale of the eradication effort remains significant. Data published by the Georgia Department of Agriculture shows officials dealt with a total of 95,530 yellow-legged hornets across the state during 2025 alone.Early spring emergence and growing nest threatThe yellow-legged hornet, scientifically known as Vespa velutina, grows to about two cen...