Whitesboro Man May Have Captured Murder Hornet On Doorbell Camera
If Coronavirus wasn't scary enough America was introduced earlier this month to a new potential threat, the murder hornet. Are they in Central New York?
First discovered in Washington State, reported sightings of the homicidal flying insect have been popping up across the fruited plains. Now, a Whitesboro man may have spotted one knocking at his front door!
Kyle Simpson got a notification early Friday morning on his phone that his SimpliSafe doorbell camera had picked up a presence at the front door. When he pulled the video surveillance, what he saw was slightly frightening. Was it the dreaded Murder Hornet? See for yourself.
Simpson recounts the event saying that as the warmer weather arrives, he's excited to expand social distancing on his own property and yard, but the footage was quite jarring. Simpson says,
When you pull up the camera footage to review from the confines and safety of your bed you are shocked to see the presence of a larger than life insect making the lens of your camera his/her own landing zone. The Killer Hornet is real!
Simpson believes it's the murder hornet, but who really knows? Reports show that the Murder Hornet targets whole bee hives, decapitating the queen bee. Other reports show that local hives are finding ways to fight back against the beast.
Scientific American reports, "Its sting is excruciating to people, but it is a bigger threat to honeybees vital for agriculture." The report also states,
The first confirmed U.S. sighting was a dead specimen found in Washington last December. But several of the insects had previously been seen on Vancouver Island in British Columbia in the late summer and fall of 2019. No one yet knows whether the hornet is establishing a North American beachhead in the Pacific Northwest or if it will spread from there. If it does advance, that could mean trouble.
At least the hornet can 'bee' seen, unlike the more threatening COVID-19. We may never know if the dreaded murder hornet passed the lens of Simpson's camera on Friday morning, but one thing is for sure, that bee is big!