Killer bees now rule Florida's hives

As the "mean" bees spread, apiaries face a mysterious blight.

By CRISTINA SILVA, Times Staff Writer
Published October 3, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Video Exterminators remove a hive of 30,000-40,000 bees [AP photo] Africanized bees, called killer bees because of the dramatic death they can inflict, are known to relentlessly pursue their victims in swarms. [Atoyia Deans | Times] Jeff McChesney prepares to remove a beehive in St. Petersburg. The state has warned him of risks in saving wild bees to rebuild beekeepers' colonies."I'm kind of at a standstill now," he said.

Africanized bees, called killer bees because of the dramatic death they can inflict, have become the dominant wild bee in Florida, say state officials.

Known to relentlessly pursue their victims in swarms, the bees have been linked to at least a dozen deaths nationwide in the past decade and nearly two dozen animal fatalities statewide during the past two years.

"These are mean bees," said Jerry Hayes, chief apiary inspector for the state Department of Agriculture. "And it's not going to get better. It's going to get worse." Two years ago the department recommended that all wild bees be exterminated.

But now beekeepers are divided - with some ignoring the call to exterminate -- saying they're in the midst of the biggest crisis their profession has ever seen. Nearly 50 percent of the nation's captive bees have disappeared in the past year to a mysterious syndrome.

"It's a double-edged sword," said Dade City beekeeper David Hackenberg. "I understand why you would be concerned about public safety. Unfortunately, we need these bees."

Jeff McChesney, a Gulfport pest exterminator and bee enthusiast, has helped place a dozen wild bee hives with beekeepers struggling to rebuild their devastated colonies. "I have people from as far as the state of Oregon who are willing to drive here once a month to get our bees because they are collapsing elsewhere," he said.

But last month the state warned him about the risks. "I'm kind of at a standstill now," he said. "I don't know if we should kill them or save the bees."

Accidental release

Africanized bees, a crossbreed of honey bees from Europe and southern Africa, were introduced to the Western Hemisphere in 1957 when they were accidentally released during an attempt to create a super-productive breed.

Over time, shipping traffic brought the bees to the United States via various ports. In Tampa Bay, the bees were first reported in 2002. Since then, they have kept multiplying at a continuous rate, Hayes said.

In a 2005 statewide sample study of wild bees, 60 percent were Africanized bees. This year, that number was 87 percent.

The bees are so dominant in part because they can recruit more gentle bees. They also attack European beehives, killing the queen and installing their own. And their queens produce offspring more quickly.

Africanized bees, which appear similar to European bees, attack in far greater numbers and will chase their victims. In the most recent bee-related death, a Texas man was killed in September after more than 1,000 bees attacked him.

No Africanized bee-related fatalities have been reported in Florida, but several people have been hospitalized after attacks. And one of the more brutal animal deaths involved a 900-pound horse in Hendry County that died in 2005 when more than a thousand Africanized bees attacked it. Four pounds of bees were found in the horse's stomach.

"This is the kind of thing that keeps me awake at 2 a.m.," Hayes said. "They will sting hundreds or thousands of times. They will go up your nose and in your mouth. We are talking about a real dramatic death and we just don't need that in Florida."

Collapse of colonies

The growth of the killer bees comes at a time when captive bees nationwide are disappearing in an unexplained phenomenon named Colony Collapse Disorder. Experts who might have once advocated bringing in wild bees to supplement the loss of the managed colonies say doing so now would be too risky.

"As long as we have beekeepers, we will have good bees; the problem is the bees in the wild, you can't tell what kind of bees they are," said Elmore Herman, a Marianna beekeeper and president of the Florida State Beekeepers Association. "So why take the chance of taking them home and getting someone stung?"

But some beekeepers say state officials should at least try to distinguish between European or Africanized wild bees instead of writing them all off.

"This is how we get fruit and other crops," said Hackenberg, the Dade City beekeeper who first sounded the alarm about Colony Collapse Disorder last fall when thousands of his bees disappeared. "We need everything we've got to pollinate whatever there is out there."

Later this month, beekeepers are set to discuss Africanized bees at their annual state conference in Winter Haven. The state has about 1,000 beekeepers.

However, some rogue bee advocates, convinced agriculture officials are overreacting to reports of bee attacks in other areas, already have begun domesticating Africanized bees, introducing them into colonies run by European bee queens.

It's unclear if the effort will work. Africanized bees spend more time foraging for pollen, which could make them better pollinators than their European brethren, but they also produce less honey for the same reason.

In Brazil, farmers have used Africanized bees to pollinate crops, but it is still experimental in the United States and state officials do not recommend it.

Some bee advocates say if wild bees do not exhibit aggression they should not be exterminated.

Jimmy McKinnon, an amateur beekeeper in St. Petersburg, has wild bees, although he doesn't believe any are Africanized.

"Just to go across the board and kill all the bees, it is the stupidest thing I have ever heard," McKinnon said.

No data on harvest

Farming officials say they don't know what the ultimate impact of the captive bee die-out will be or even what could happen if Africanized bees keep spreading across the state. So far, neither situation has meant less honey or a loss in food crops.

But no data has been collected to compare the number of bees with the pounds of food collected each harvest season, said Charles Moss, a food and resource economics professor at the University of Florida. He was recently tapped by the state to research the impact of Africanized bees.

"We won't know what the impact will be unless it reaches a catastrophic level, and then it is too late."

Cristina Silva can be reached at csilva@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8846.

FAST FACTS: Africanized bees
Africanized bees are fiercely protective of their territories and will relentlessly attack any perceived threats.

• If there is a beehive on your property, do not attempt to remove it or exterminate the bees yourself. Call a professional pest control company.
• If the bees begin to attack, get inside immediately. Africanized bees release an odor when they sting that can attract thousands of other bees.
• If you receive multiple stings, clean the wound and put ice on it. If you begin to sweat profusely or have difficult breathing, call 911.

Source: Florida Department of Agriculture

[Last modified October 2, 2007, 23:45:17]