Murder hornets from first nest in US will be SUCKED out alive today after their tree is filled with foam and covered in plastic wrap before they are killed

Around 200 murder hornets will be 'extracted alive and killed' Saturday after experts discovered the first nest in the US in Washington state by attaching radio trackers to the bugs.  

Washington State Department of Agriculture  entomologists discovered the Asian giant hornet nest on private property in Blaine, Whatcom County, close to the US-Canada border Thursday.

The insects had set up camp inside the cavity of a tree on the land that had been cleared to build residential property on. 

The nest is about the size of a basketball and contains an estimated 100 to 200 hornets. 

This marks the first successful attempt to locate a nest of the so-called Asian giant hornets on US soil. 

The WSDA plans to wipe out the nest Saturday to protect native honeybees through a complex extermination plan that officials told DailyMail.com could continue into the next day. 

Around 200 murder hornets will be 'extracted alive and killed' Saturday after experts discovered the first nest in the US in Washington state by attaching radio trackers to the bugs. An Asian Giant Hornet wearing a tracking device is shown Thursday

The insects had set up camp inside the cavity of a tree on the land that had been cleared to build residential property on

Washington State Department of Agriculture workers hold an antenna as they follow a hornet wearing a tracking device to the nest Thursday

The plan is to fill the cavity of the tree with foam and cover it with plastic wrap to prevent the hornets from escaping, according to Sven-Erik Spichiger, an entomologist for the Agriculture Department. 

Then a tube will be inserted to vacuum up the hornets trapped inside and deposit them in a collection chamber, he said.

Workers will wear thick protective suits that can prevent the 6-millimeter-long stingers of the hornets from hurting workers, Spichiger said. 

They also will wear face shields because the trapped hornets can spit a painful venom into their eyes.

'We extract them alive,' he said. 'We will kill them.'

The tree will then be cut down to extract newborn hornets and learn if any queens have left the hive already, he said. 

Officials suspect more nests may be in the area and they will keep searching for the pesky insects.

'It's still a very small population, and we are actively hunting them,' Spichiger said. 

Hector Castro, a spokesperson for WSDA, told DailyMail.com the department was unsure if the full extermination would be completed Saturday. 

Experts are seen attaching tracking devices to the bugs to lead them to the nest. Experts discovered the Asian giant hornet nest on private property in Blaine, Whatcom County, close to the US-Canada border Thursday

The insects had set up camp inside the cavity of a tree on the land that had been cleared to build residential property on

The nest in the tree is about the size of a basketball and contains an estimated 100 to 200 hornets

The WSDA plans to wipe out the nest Saturday to protect native honeybees through a complex extermination plan. Pictured a hornet with a tracker Thursday

WSDA will document the process and announce the results Monday, he said.  

The original extermination plan was delayed from Friday due to the weather.  

The net closed in on the pesky insects this week when experts captured and attached tracking devices to some of the hornets. 

Workers with the state Agriculture Department had spent weeks searching, trapping and using dental floss to tie tracking devices to Asian giant hornets.

Two Asian giant hornets were collected Wednesday using a new type of live trap and two more were caught in another trap Thursday morning.

Entomologists then attached radio trackers to three insects using dental floss and waited for one of them to lead them to the nest. 

The second hornet was traced to the nest late Thursday afternoon where experts then watched dozens of hornets entering and exiting the tree.

'While Asian giant hornets normally nest in the ground, they are occasionally found nesting in dead trees,' the WSDA said in a statement.

The plan is to fill the cavity of the tree with foam and cover it with plastic wrap to prevent the hornets from escaping

A tube will then be inserted to vacuum up the hornets trapped inside and deposit them in a collection chamber

Entomologist pictured attaching radio trackers to the insects before waiting for one of them to lead them to the nest

'Dozens of the hornets were seen entering and exiting the tree while the WSDA team was present.'

It was about 300 yards (274 meters) from the traps in the cavity of a tree on private property, officials said. 

Dozens of the hornets were seen buzzing in and out of the tree about 7 or 8 feet (2 meters) above the ground. 

The owner gave the state permission to eradicate the nest and remove the tree.  

Officials have said it's not known how they arrived in North America.

The discovery of the nest comes after officials in Washington have been trying to track down a murder hornet nest for months - ever since the first bug was spotted on US soil earlier at the end of last year.   

The first confirmed detection of the hornet in the US was in December near Blaine and the first live hornet was trapped this July. 

Just over 20 have been caught so far, all in Whatcom County. 

The insects were traced using the radio trackers (attached above) and found to have set up camp inside the cavity of a tree on land that had been cleared to build residential property on

A hornet after it was captured this week by the WSDA to be used to locate the nest

The invasive insect is normally found in China, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Vietnam and other Asian countries. 

Washington state and the Canadian province of British Columbia are the only places the hornets have been found on the continent.

In the last month, there have been several sightings of the invasive pests in the Blaine area of the state. 

It is not clear how they arrived in America.  

The Asian giant hornet is the world's largest hornet at two inches and can decimate entire hives of honeybees, which are already under siege from problems like mites, diseases, pesticides and loss of food. 

A small group of the hornets can kill an entire honeybee hive in hours, and they have already destroyed six or seven hives in Washington state, officials said.

Farmers in the northwestern US depend on those honey bees to pollinate many crops, including raspberries and blueberries. 

Despite their nickname, the hornets kill at most a few dozen people a year in Asia, and experts say it is probably far less but they do deliver painful stings to humans.

Hornets, wasps and bees typically found in the US kill an average of 62 people a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

Murder Hornet statistics

Latin name: Vespa mandarinia 

Adult length: 1 3/4 inches

Wingspan: Three inches

Sting length: Quarter of an inch

Description: Yellow face and large black and yellow striped abdomen. Large jaws and a noisy flier. 

Asian giant hornets are more than double the size of honeybees, and have a wingspan measuring more than three inches

Natural habitat: Across Asia

Venom: It administers seven times more venom than a honeybee when it stings. This acts as a neurotoxin and can lead to seizures and cardiac arrests. The sting is described as incredibly painful.

Behavior: Insect emerges in April and nests in the ground. It predates on many insects, but particularly targets honeybees.

Risks: Has a habit of sacking bee hives, decapitating the workers and stealing the young. The European honeybee has no defense against the invader. Its stings could also prove fatal to Americans.