Removed the only confirmed nest of Asian wasp from the Canary Islands

The RedEXOS Intervention Team, the Canary Network for Early Warning of Invasive Exotic Species dependent on the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Energy of the Government of the Canary Islands, proceeded on the night of last Friday, June 5, to remove the only confirmed nest of Asian hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax) in the Canary Islands, located on the facade of the IES Isabel de España in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. 

The experts consulted consider that it is a derived hornet's nest, rebuilt by the worker wasps that survived the removal of the original by municipal firefighters, in mid-May and in the same location. The operation, which lasted approximately one hour, had the collaboration of the capital's city council, which made a crane truck from its Lighting Service available to the Network.

The action required, for occupational safety, the use of specific, custom-made Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Its availability in the Canary Islands and the decentralized nature of the Network guarantee that similar incidents can be addressed in the future and on any island, although for the moment the presence of the species outside of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria or even other areas of the city remains unconfirmed.

Of the 155 citizen alerts received and investigated by RedEXOS, none have been positive. In all cases, they have been confusions with other wasps already present in the Canary Islands or inconclusive observations, of a casual nature and without the essential graphic support, so for the moment, the situation is considered to be under control and no greater alarm should be generated.

To date, only three sightings have been confirmed, all within a radius of less than 250 meters from the removed nest. On May 22, a janitor from the neighboring IES Pérez Galdós managed to capture an individual with a plastic container. On June 1, an entomologist captured a video of another worker feeding on the gardens adjacent to the ULPGC Information Center. And two days later, another hornet fell into one of the traps installed by RedEXOS, also in the immediate vicinity of the aforementioned hornet's nest.

Despite the fact that the removal was successful and proceeded without incident, the consulted experts point out that isolated individuals could continue to be observed in the surroundings in the coming days, as there is no absolute guarantee that all wasps were roosting in the nest at the time of its removal. Despite this, it is considered unlikely that the number of survivors will be high and that they will therefore maintain the capacity to rebuild it.

For all these reasons and since the possibility of other undetected nests existing remains, RedEXOS maintains its appeals for citizen collaboration, as well as the channels for reporting any possible sightings. The Network's mobile app (RedEXOS Gobcan) and its website www.redexos.com, which are its usual work tools, accept reports of any Invasive Exotic Species, while for the moment the two extraordinary channels for potential Asian wasp alerts will remain enabled: the sending of suspicious videos or photos, both of nests and wasps, to the official WhatsApp (646 601 457) and the possibility of calling the CECOES (emergency telephone 1-1-2) at any time.