Coronavirus quickly became the biggest threat to our society but it appears that there’s a new enemy lurking. In Blaine, WA, there have been reports of giant hornets that are only typically found in eastern Asia. The thing is these hornets are murderous with officials suspecting that they’ve been responsible for the bee massacres that have occurred throughout the state of Washington along with suspected attacks on humans.

Researchers have referred to the hornet as the “murder hornet” due to the fact that it claims 50 lives per year on average in Japan. These hornets can kill humans with several stings, especially when they’re in groups and expose victims to venom that’s as lethal as a venomous snake’s.

Per NYT, beekeepers in the Blaine area have blamed the murder hornets for killing their hives, claiming all of the bees had their heads taken off. These attacks initially occurred in November and December 2019.

Conrad Bérubé, a beekeeper from Canada, was hired to exterminate a hive in Vancouver Island but was attacked by the Asian giant hornets. Though his job has been to deal with bees, he explained that this was easily one of the most painful stings he’s ever experienced. “It was like having red-hot thumbtacks being driven into my flesh,” he said.

At this point, the murder hornets have been spotted across both the U.S. and Canada with little information available regarding where they’re specifically inhabiting. Traps have been set up but let’s just hope that this problem doesn’t grow worse.