Georgia Department of Agriculture warns of invasive species, asks for help with eradication

PEACH COUNTY, Ga. —The Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) is asking Middle Georgia citizens to help with eradicating an invasive species that is a potentially dangerous threat to Georgia’s ecosystems.

On Thursday, in a press release, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper asked the public to help report any yellow-legged hornet and their nests. 

“Georgia has made significant progress in tracking and eliminating the yellow-legged hornet, but our success depends on continued public support,” Commissioner Tyler J Harper said. “The sooner a nest is identified and reported, the sooner our team can respond. We are asking every Georgian to remain vigilant and help us keep this invasive species from gaining a foothold in our state.”

The invasive species was first spotted in Savannah, Georgia, and has since spread to surrounding counties. In the release, the GDA requested that people in Bryan, Bulloch, Chatham, Effingham, and Liberty Counties keep an eye out for these hornets.

The Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Plant Protection Division has seen increased hawking activity around beehives, an “indication that yellow-legged hornet colonies are entering their secondary nesting phase.” Hawking occurs when the hornets hover near honeybee hives and prey on foraging bees.

According to the release, a single undetected primary nest can produce a secondary nest containing “thousands of hornets and multiple reproductive queens capable of establishing new colonies.”

This invasive  species poses a significant threat to honeybees and other pollinators that support Georgia’s agricultural industry, the release says.

If you believe you have found a Yellow-Legged Hornet, the GDA says not to remove it yourself. Instead, contact the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Plant Protection Division at yellow.legged.hornet@agr.georgia.gov to ensure the nest is properly identified and the queen is eradicated.

For more information about the Yellow-Legged Hornet and how to identify potential nests, visit https://agr.georgia.gov/yellow-legged-hornet.