Killer Bees Strike in Carlsbad
Mike Smith
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Last week a swarm of Africanized honey bees attacked and killed a dog outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico.
It would seem that after being overshadowed as the it thing to panic about several years ago, these bees are now back with a vengeance, killing one dog and injuring another dog and a horse in the process. Of course, since normal bees and Africanized bees look the same, and since the lab results aren't back yet, it's impossible to tell which strain of bees it was at the moment. It would seem likely, however, that any hive able to injure a horse is probably not composed of your average bees.
Emergency personnel were called in from the Carlsbad Fire Department and the Joel Volunteer Fire Department to handle the situation, which they did by spraying the bee's down with soapy foam in an attempt to suffocate them. It would appear that soapy foam is a bee's worst enemy which could be important to keep in mind for anyone planning on venturing outside anytime soon.
Also on the checklist should be not to mess with beehives.
The first "killer" bees emerged in 1957 when twenty-six queen bees were accidentally released in southeast Brazil. Warwick E. Kerr had been interbreeding honey bees from Africa and Europe in an attempt to create a strain of bees that was better suited for tropical conditions. Technically, the experiment was a success. They have since become the honey bee of choice throughout South America. Unfortunately, after their release the new breed of aggressive bees fared remarkably well in the wild and have spread throughout the Americas with ease. They were first discovered in New Mexico in 1993 in Hidalgo County.
I wouldn't hop into the bomb shelter just yet. Since their introduction into the United States there have been fewer then twenty recorded deaths from the bees which makes them less dangerous than pretty much everything else out there.
But tell that to the person, or in this case the dog, surrounded by a swarm of angry bees. I think they might disagree.
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Reader Comments (2)
Good point. I would be more afraid of the "killer cars" - over 40,000 deaths last year!
Although, a few years ago, my soft-hearted mother spent two months trying to find a bee keeper to remove a colony of "poor, little, lost, honey bees" from her shed. Try to imagine, if you can, a dignified, elderly lady covered with bumps and bruises, from using a window on the other side of the house to access her car - for two long months! She could have died for her kindness, if she had slipped and fell while trying to get into her car fast enough.
And as it turned out - they very likely were killers!
The amateur bee expert, that finally arrived, only disposed of them soon after he became convinced of their aggressive temperaments. He drove up to the hive entrance, and they came flooding out to attack his van.
So he quickly drove away from the residential neighborhood with many of them still sticking on there.
To a close call like that, I would advise anyone to, "Spray first - ask questions later." *in my best Spaghetti Western, snaky-eyed, drawl* if you find ANY bees attempting to "colonize" your property.
Apparently, they don't attack when they swarm/travel, they only attack after they have taken up residence
- if you can believe an amateur bee keeper.
My mother, however, still feels sorry for, "the poor, little honey bees", who were, "so nice, when they first moved in." (Yes, nuttiness does run in my family ;-) )