College Station, TX --- MASON COUNTY ADDED TO QUARANTINE LIST FOR AFRICANIZED BEES --- Mason County was added Monday to the state quarantine, restricting the movement of commercial bee operations following the detection of Africanized honey bees there after a major stinging incident. The addition makes 129 counties in Texas now quarantined for Africanized honey bees, according to Paul Jackson, chief inspector for the Texas Apiary Inspection Service, a unit of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. A colony of wild bees was found in a dead log about 15 miles southeast of Mason along the Llano River. C.H. Smith, who had been operating a bulldozer that apparently disturbed the log, was stung hundreds of times. Jackson said Smith has recovered from the attack. "A sample was collected and taken to Texas A&M's Honey Bee Identification Lab, where it was confirmed as Africanized," Jackson said. He noted the original sample received by the lab in mid-October was too small to get an accurate reading. Therefore, inspectors went to the location to obtain a larger number of bees which were later confirmed as Africanized. The quarantine allows beekeepers to move bee hives within but not out of the zone in an effort to prevent assisting the spread. Africanized honey bees look just like regular domestic honey bees, but are more defensive in protecting their hives.(Kathleen Phillips, Texas A&M Agriculture News, 11/14/00).

Sterling City, TX --- STERLING COUNTY ADDED TO QUARANTINE LIST FOR AFRICANIZED BEES --- Sterling County was added Wednesday to the state quarantine, restricting the movement of commercial bee operations following the detection of Africanized honey bees there. The addition makes 128 counties in Texas now quarantined for Africanized honey bees, according to Paul Jackson, chief inspector for the Texas Apiary Inspection Service, a unit of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. A colony of wild bees was found in a water meter at 211 3rd St. in Sterling City. A water meter reader received a few stings in the incident but was not seriously injured and has recovered, Jackson said. "A sample was collected and taken to Texas A&M's Honey Bee Identification Lab where it was confirmed as Africanized," Jackson said. The quarantine allows beekeepers to move bee hives within but not out of the zone in an effort to prevent assisting the spread. Africanized honey bees look just like regular domestic honey bees but are more defensive in protecting their hives. State bee inspectors continue to monitor a series of bee traplines that extend across the state from Louisiana to New Mexico, Jackson noted. The Africanized bee was first detected entering the United States near Brownsville in October 1990. Since then, the bee has spread through much of the state, along a line roughly from south of Houston to south of Lubbock to El Paso. Africanized honey bees also have been found in Arizona, California and New Mexico. (Kathleen Phillips, Texas A&M Agriculture News, 10/4/00).

Lake Forest, CA --- WOMAN STUNG 500 TIMES IN BEE ATTACK --- Orange County Woman Rescued Not A Moment Too Soon --- A bee attack left a 77-year-old woman hospitalized Sunday. The unidentified victim, who lives at the Freedom Village senior living complex in Lake Forest, was strolling outside her residence when a bee swarm descended on her. The woman was unable escape or fend off the angry bees, and several groundskeepers standing nearby had to come to her rescue. "They assisted the lady prior to the fire department's arrival," Orange County Fire Authority spokesman Paul Hunter told Channel 2000. "They used a garden hose to scatter the swarm and threw a wet blanket over the victim." When firefighters arrived, the bees were still agitated and posed a threat, according to Hunter. "The paramedics utilized bee veils and protective garments to gain access to the lady. They moved her to an ambulance waiting about 150 feet away." The traumatized but conscious woman was rushed to Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills. "She was conscious and pretty stable through the whole episode," Hunter told Channel 2000. On the way to the hospital, the 77-year-old showed signs of having an allergic reaction to the bee stings. Doctors administered antihistamines to arrest the symptoms. "The victim had more than five hundred stingers pulled from her body in the emergency room," Saddleback spokeswoman Elizabeth Bear told Channel 2000. "She was stung by the kind of bees that, when they die, they leave their stingers in you." Bear said that the woman was brought to the hospital not a moment too soon. "She had a big allergic reaction. It could have been fatal." Bear said that the woman was in "guarded condition" Sunday night. She's expected to remain hospitalized for several days. Authorities don't know what incited the bee attack, nor has the variety of bee involved been determined. The incident comes less than a week after a Banning man was killed by a horde of what were believed to be Africanized honey bees, better known as "killer bees." Don Algiers, 41, apparently disturbed a hive, which provoked the attack. Witnesses said that his head and neck were virtually submerged in bees. Autopsy results showed that he died from an allergic reaction. O.C. Fire Authority spokesman Paul Hunter told Channel 2000 that county firefighters now carry bee veils as part of their regular gear. (Channel 2000 - CBS 2, 10/2/00).

Lake Forest, CA --- WOMAN STUNG BY BEES 500 TIMES --- Bees stung a 77-year-old woman 500 times while she walked in an Orange County retirement community Sunday, leaving her in critical condition, authorities said. The woman, whose identity was withheld, was attacked when a hive was disturbed by workers at Freedom Village retirement community, said Liz Bear, a spokeswoman for Saddleback Memorial Medical Center. "She's having an allergic reaction due to the number of stings," Bear said. She said the woman remained conscious while hundreds of stingers were removed and was expected to remain hospitalized for several days. Paramedics who responded had to don bee veils and protective clothing to treat the woman, said county fire Capt. Paul Hunter. (AP, 10/1/00).

Banning, CA --- BEES KILL INLAND MAN --- The 41-year old was attacked in Banning after he accidently disturbed a hive --- A swarm of possibly Africanized honeybees attacked and killed a Banning man this week after he inadvertently dumped dirt on a culvert they used as a hive. It would be the second death from Africanized bees in California. Don Algiers, 41, was allergic to bee stings and might have died if he had been stung just once, his brother Randy Algiers said. But Don Algiers was stung more than a hundred times about the head -- attacked by so many bees that rescuers had to pluck them from his mouth to render aid, said Randy Algiers, who was among those aiding his brother. "He just didn't have a chance," Randy Algiers said. State and local officials said the swarm's aggressiveness suggests the bees were the so-called "killer bees," although officials won't know for sure until DNA tests of the insects are completed next week. Don and Randy Algiers had been repairing a broken irrigation pipe Tuesday afternoon along Bluff Road above Banning. The whole day, neither brother had seen a single bee. Randy Algiers is operations manager for the Banning Heights Mutual Water Co., which owned the pipe. Randy Algiers had just left to complete repairs a quarter-mile away when Don, a heavy-equipment operator, dumped a load of dirt and rocks over the side of the road. The load tumbled onto the top of a metal culvert about 20 feet below the road where a colony of bees had established a hive. "That got the bees going. They swarmed him," Randy Algiers said. Don Algiers scrambled off his skip loader and onto the bumper of a passing pickup, which tried to carry him to safety. But Don Algiers slumped onto the bumper and hitch of a trailer the truck was towing. The driver stopped and ran up the hill to summon Randy Algiers. Once Randy Algiers realized the bees had attacked his brother, he summoned his father, and the two of them tried to revive Don Algiers while others called 911. Randy Algiers even tried calling a few doctors who live in the neighborhood but couldn't reach them. Algiers was taken to San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital in Banning, where he was pronounced dead. Don Algiers was in poor health -- he suffered from emphysema -- and he didn't carry medicine to counter the effects of the bee venom, Randy Algiers said. "One or two stings could have taken him -- he got hundreds of them," he said. Thursday night, after the sun had set and the bees had calmed down, Banning firefighters and a beekeeper returned to the culvert to cover the opening and exterminate the hive. Randy Algiers was there to watch. He grabbed a handful of the dead bees. To him, they looked like common honeybees. The bee attack frightened some of those who live in the rural neighborhood on the mountain bench above Banning. Kevin DeLancy is among a group of neighbors who regularly take a morning walk down Bluff Street, past the area where the bees had built their nest. After learning of the attack, DeLancy said, the neighbors gave up their morning walk -- at least until they feel assured that the bees are gone. "Everybody up here is really frightened," DeLancy said. Escapees from Brazil, the Africanized honeybees have now settled throughout Southern California, from San Diego to Ventura County. People who live in the region should assume any bee is an Africanized honeybee, said Cal Kaminskas, Riverside County's deputy agricultural commissioner. "People need to be very alert." Fall is the most dangerous time of the year, because the bees have hives and honey that they will protect aggressively, Kaminskas said. Africanized honeybees look the same as their European cousins and, individually, their venom is no more potent. But the bees are easily agitated by such things as machine noise and will aggressively chase victims up to a quarter-mile to defend their hives, said Dr. Vicki Kramer, chief of the state Department of Health Service's vector-borne disease section. One Californian is known to have been killed by Africanized bees. An elderly Long Beach man died last year after he was attacked while mowing his lawn. Memorial services for Algiers will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Fellowship in the Pass Church in Beaumont. Weaver Mortuary in Beaumont is handling arrangements. Algiers was born in Banning, attended local schools and returned to the city in 1997 after a three-year stay in Las Vegas. He had been an equipment operator 22 years. He is survived by his mother and stepfather, Donna and John Davis of Banning; his father and stepmother, Raymond and Mary Ana Algiers of Casper, Wyo.; six brothers, Randy of Banning, Scott Ryden of Grand Junction, Colo., John Ryden of Loveland, Colo., Eric of Casper, Wyo., Raymond of Phoenix, and Mark of Long Beach; a sister, Vickie Fitzgerald of Green Bay, Wis.; and several nieces and nephews. The family suggests memorial contributions to Fellowship in the Pass, 650 E. 14th Street, Beaumont, 92223. (Douglas E. Beeman & Luis Bueno, The Press-Enterprise, 9/30/00).

Tucson, AZ --- INCITED AFRICANIZED BEES STING 7 KIDS --- Seven children were stung by Africanized bees Thursday after a boy threw something at a hive in a tree near a Marana elementary school. A 10-year-old girl was treated and released from Northwest Medical Center, while the other six received stings that did not require medical attention, said spokeswoman Katy Heiden of the Northwest Fire/Rescue District. The bees attacked just before noon across the street from Estes Elementary School, where children were dismissed early. The colony had about 50,000 Africanized bees, said Tom Martin, president of AAA Africanized Bee Removal Specialists. One of Martin's employees used smoke and a patented solution to calm the bees, then applied insecticides to the hive, he said. (Arizona Republic, 9/29/00).

Natal, Brazil --- 'KILLER BEE' STING KO'S THE KIDNEYS ---- The venom of ``killer bees''--more precisely known as Africanized honeybees--causes a dramatic reduction in blood circulation in the kidneys and is toxic to kidney cells, according to study findings presented here at a meeting of kidney specialists. The results of the study, carried out at the University of Sao Paulo, offer some clues to why rapid kidney failure is seen in some people attacked by the bees. The stings of Africanized honeybees can be toxic, perhaps deadly, even in persons not known to be allergic to bee stings. While the composition and volume of venom in killer bees is not much different than that of their European cousins, the Africanized honeybees are much more irritable. They tend to swarm more readily, defend their hives more aggressively, and sting more often. In the new study, researchers injected rats with a dose of venom or, as a comparison, a salt-water solution. The results showed a significant reduction in urine output in the venom-treated rats, indicating an intense vasoconstriction--a narrowing of blood vessels--in the kidneys. The investigators also mixed kidney cells with the venom and measured lactate dehydrogenase, an enzyme released by damaged cells. The research team found that the venom was toxic to the cells, and higher doses caused greater cell damage. ``These results help us to understand why the bee sting causes acute renal (kidney) failure,'' said Professor Emmanuel Burdmann, coordinator of the study, in an interview with Reuters Health. Currently, there is not much doctors can do to help patients when their kidneys begin to malfunction after an attack by Africanized honeybees, Burdmann said. ``However, with this model, we may start to look for ways of inhibiting the vasoconstriction as a form of limiting the renal damage,'' the Brazilian researcher said. ``We still need to understand the mechanism by which the venom is (toxic to the kidneys), and this is planned for the near future.'' Since 1957, there have been more than 1,000 deaths due to attacks by swarms of African bees. The bees are moving northward into the US and have been found in Texas, Arizona and California. (Reuters Health, 9/28/00).

College Station, TX --- FOUR COUNTIES ADDED TO QUARANTINE LIST FOR AFRICANIZED BEES --- Concho, Cottle and Robertson counties were added Thursday to the state quarantine, restricting the movement of commercial bee operations following the detection of Africanized honey bees there. No bees were found in Coleman County, but it was added because the find in Concho County meant Coleman was surrounded by quarantined counties, according to Paul Jackson, chief inspector for the Texas Apiary Inspection Service, a unit of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. The addition makes 127 counties in Texas now quarantined for Africanized honey bees, according to Jackson. In Concho County, a sample of bees were taken from under a house near Vick. In Cottle County, bees were found in a tree near Paducah. The bees in Robertson County were found in a vacant building owned by Calvert Independent School District at 914 E. Wharton. The only stinging associated with any of these finds was a person stung once at the building in Calvert. That person was not seriously injured and is fully recovered. All of the bees involved in these three cases were destroyed. "Samples were collected and taken to Texas A&M's Honey Bee Identification Lab where they were confirmed as Africanized," Jackson said. The quarantine allows beekeepers to move bee hives within but not out of the zone in an effort to prevent assisting the spread. Africanized honey bees look just like regular domestic honey bees, but are more defensive in protecting their hives. State bee inspectors continue to monitor a series of bee traplines that extend across the state from Louisiana to New Mexico, Jackson noted. (Kathleen Phillips, Texas A&M Agriculture News, 9/21/00).

College Station, TX --- DALLAS COUNTY ADDED TO QUARANTINE LIST FOR AFRICANIZED BEES --- Dallas County was added Monday to the state quarantine, restricting the movement of commercial bee operations following the detection of Africanized honey bees there. The addition makes 123 counties in Texas now quarantined for Africanized honey bees, according to Paul Jackson, chief inspector for the Texas Apiary Inspection Service, a unit of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. A feral colony of bees were collected from a water meter on Haynie Street in University Park near Southern Methodist University. "A sample was collected and taken to Texas A&M's Honey Bee Identification Lab where it was confirmed as Africanized," Jackson said. State bee inspectors continue to monitor a series of bee traplines that extend across the state from Louisiana to New Mexico, Jackson noted. The Africanized bee was first detected entering the United States near Brownsville in October 1990. Since then, the bee has spread through much of the state, along a line roughly from south of Houston to south of Lubbock to El Paso. Africanized honey bees also have been found in Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico. (Kathleen Phillips, Texas A&M Agriculture News, 9/4/00).

College Station, TX --- KING COUNTY ADDED TO QUARANTINE LIST FOR AFRICANIZED BEES --- King County has been added to the state quarantine, restricting the movement of commercial bee operations following the detection of Africanized honey bees there. The addition makes 122 counties in Texas now quarantined for Africanized honey bees, according to Paul Jackson, chief inspector for the Texas Apiary Inspection Service, a unit of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. A feral colony of bees were collected from the knot hole of a tree in Dumont. "A sample was collected and sent to Texas A&M's Honey Bee Identification Lab where it was confirmed as Africanized," Jackson said. State bee inspectors continue to monitor a series of bee traplines that extend across the state from Louisiana to New Mexico, Jackson noted. The Africanized bee was first detected entering the United States near Brownsville in October 1990. Since then, the bee has spread through much of the state, along a line roughly from south of Houston to south of Lubbock to El Paso. Africanized honey bees also have been found in Arizona, California and New Mexico. (Kathleen Phillips, Texas A&M Agriculture News, 8/21/00).

Twentynine Palms, CA --- SAN BERNADINO WOMAN, 65, STUNG 100 TIMES --- Suspected Killer Bee Attack --- A swarm of suspected killer bees attacked a woman in her desert back yard and left her hospitalized in serious condition with more than 100 stings, authorities said. Mary Vezina, 65, was described as stable Sunday in the intensive care unit at Hi-Desert Medical Center, a nursing supervisor said. Bees taken from a hive beneath a shed in Vezina's back yard were being tested to see if they were Africanized honey bees. San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the woman's home after receiving a call at 9:49 a.m. Saturday that Vezina was trapped in her back yard, the department said in a news release. When deputies arrived, she was under attack by a swarm of bees. Two deputies who rushed in to rescue Vezina were also stung, but they were not hospitalized. A 13-year-old boy was stung approximately three times and didn't require medical attention. Earlier this month in nearby Hesperia, a swarm of suspected Africanized killer bees attacked a 78-year-old man on his daily walk and stung him 211 times. It took emergency room staff at Desert Valley Hospital four hours to remove the stingers from Frank Catelli. The bees blitzed Catelli during his daily 2-mile walk in the high-desert community. When firefighters arrived at the scene, a cloud of bees surrounded their trucks, forcing them to park four blocks away to put on their protective gear. (AP, 8/20/00).

University of Nevada, Las Vegas --- AFRICANIZED HONEY BEES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF AN ANTHROPOLOGIST --- An interesting and informative research article appeared in the spring edition of the publication, Practicing Anthropology. "AFRICANIZED HONEY BEES IN THE HUMAN DOMAIN: ISSUES OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ADAPTATION IN SOUTHERN NEVADA" by Daniel LeBas of UNLV, can be read in entirety by clicking here.

Carlsbad, NM --- HANDLE BEES WITH CARE - BEES CONFIRMED: AFRICANIZED AND AGRESSIVE --- Carlsbad’s bee population hasn’t been very popular lately. Last week, Lucille Kincaid, 74, died from cardiac arrest after she was attacked by a swarm of bees. County agents have confirmed that the bees were Africanized, often referred to as “killer,” bees. Since, county officials, beekeepers and exterminators say they’ve been getting dozens of calls each day from people in the area who are apparently terrified of another bee attack. Most of the callers report seeing bees in their neighborhoods, and they want someone to come out and exterminate them. Local bee experts, meanwhile, are urging the public not to panic. An all out frontal assault on every bee in Eddy County would be a bad idea, the beekeepers said. At the least, bees should be viewed as a necessary evil. “If they see any bees at all, they call and want them taken care of,” beekeeper Mark Green said. “We need the bees for pollination. If we wipe them out, we are going to be in a world of hurt.” “We’re not going to exterminate every hive,” said Woods Houghton, county extension agent. “They tried that in Texas and Mexico, and you cannot kill every hive.” Houghton said the county has been receiving 25-30 calls a day since the attack on Mrs. Kincaid. The best solution, he said, is to focus on bees that present an immediate danger. “Wherever there is going to be a bee-person interaction, you need to call a professional exterminator or a beekeeper,” he said. Houghton said he received confirmation Wednesday that the bees that attacked Mrs. Kincaid and her family last week were 99.98% likely to be Africanized. After the attack, he had mailed several of the bees involved to a laboratory in Maryland for testing. “What they do is measure 72 different parameters of the wings,” he said. “Mrs. Kincaid’s death was caused by Africanized, not domesticated bees.” Africanized bees, Houghton said, actually have slightly less venom than a regular honeybee. They are more dangerous simply because of their aggression. “Basically, it is like the difference between a coyote and a dog,” Houghton said. “If you threaten a coyote, you are gonna get bit every time.” The aggression gene is apparently a dominant trait in the insect. Houghton said as an experiment, someone crossbred an Africanized and a European bee in 1960. For 40-some generations since, they have crossbred a hybrid bee with pure European stock, trying to dilute the Africanized traits. The bees with any trace of Africanized DNA still exhibit aggressive behavior. Africanized bees have been in Carlsbad since around 1992, Houghton said. Within five years after Africanized bees are found in a country, Houghton said, 90% of the bees not kept by a beekeeper will have been Africanized. Like honeybees, Africanized bees can only sting once. “For a bee to sting someone it commits suicide,” Houghton said. Green, who said he’s been stung between 500 and 600 times in his six years as a beekeeper, recommended anyone with bee questions call an expert. Houghton agreed and suggested caution. “Just don’t get paranoid,” he said. “Don’t harass them, and if there is a bee colony don’t threaten them. They respond to threats, and they respond very aggressively". Another beekeeper, Ron Crockett, said after Mrs. Kincaid’s death, he was receiving 10-15 calls a day from people who were concerned about bees near their homes. The number of calls has since tapered off to around six or seven per day, he said. George Carlson, a veteran beekeeper and retired Westinghouse employee, said he was called out to seven hives the day after the bee attack. “Some have had these bees for years, but now they want them gone,” Carlson said. “And you really can’t blame them.” Crockett said beekeepers will usually try to save the hives they spot while exterminators will do exactly what their name indicates. A hive is saved, he said, by taking the Africanized queen out of the hive and replacing it with a domesticated queen. The already-pregnant domesticated queen gives birth to regular honeybees. “You are changing the whole brood,” Green said. “After around 45 days the hive becomes less aggressive.” Beekeepers will destroy a hive if they think it presents a danger to people in the area. “We had one where a swarm moved into the bottom of a mobile home we had to destroy,” Green said. When possible though, Green said he tries to do what he can to save a hive. “For example, there is a hive up in the Living Desert where the bees have been there for years and years,” he said. “They say they’ve had people claim they weren’t going to come back unless they removed the hive. I recommended they put a piece of glass in the wall so people could see.” City and county agencies say they’ve also been on a lot of bee calls. Usually they direct the callers to one of Carlsbad’s beekeepers. “We are a 911 service,” Assistant Fire Chief Mike Shannon said. “Yes, if someone is being attacked, we are going to respond and take care of them.” The Fire Department also assists city workers who are disturbed by bees while on duty. The fire department does not, however, respond to every bee sighting. “Some of the callers are just saying bees are flying around,” Fire Chief Mike Reynolds said. “If they are not attacking anyone, we can’t come out and start killing bees.” On Wednesday morning, The Eddy County Sheriff’s Department and Eddy County’s Vector Control Unit destroyed a hive at an RV park in Lakewood. According to a press release, the county destroyed the hive because of its proximity to a population base. Jimmy Cisneros, a city councilman who runs Carlsbad Pest Control, says local exterminators have also been getting a lot of bee calls. “We’ve had several calls recently,” Cisneros said. “I’ve been to a couple calls where people had swarms under their homes.” Cisneros said he isn’t always able to deal with every bee call. “We have great pesticides and great equipment, but we’re still at their mercy,” he said. “It depends on their accessibility.” Cisneros also said almost all of his regular customers have recently made inquiries about bees in the area. “It’s more or less like I go into someone’s home to do their regular spraying, and they start asking me about bees,” he said. Still, Houghton agrees, there is no need to panic. There are a lot of bee colonies out there, but the likelihood of being killed by a drunk driver versus bees is around 1,000 to one,” Houghton said. (Klye Marksteiner, Carlsbad Current-Argus, 8/6/00).

Hobbs, NM --- LEA COUNTY MAN STUNG BY BEES --- A Lea County man was stung about 25 times by a swarm of bees that he had unwittingly stirred up in an old rabbit hutch. "I just jumped of off the backhoe and started swatting them with my hat," said Wesley Johnston, who had been moving a pile of trash to a pit for burning. "But there were thousands of them. You couldn't have got them off. So I ran like hell," he said. Family members and a Lea County sheriff's deputy gathered some dead bees to send to a Maryland lab to determine if the insects are Africanized honeybees, which are more aggressive than the more common European honeybees. The attack occurred Saturday - two days after an Eddy County woman was attacked by bees just outside Carlsbad. Lucille A. Kincaid, 74, suffered multiple bee stings, went into cardiac arrest and died, officials said. Some of the bees also were sent to a Maryland lab to determine if they were Africanized. Johnston, who was attacked at his home east of Hobbs near the New Mexico-Texas line, said he was yelling for help from his wife and was considering jumping into a cattle water tank. About that time, Chuck Frizzell, a Hobbs police officer who lives nearby, rode by on his bicycle. "He was screaming bloody murder," said Frizzell, who ran to Johnston's aide even though Frizzell is allergic to bee stings. "We knocked all the bees off him and turned a water hose on him and they were still attacking," Frizzell said. An ambulance took Johnston to Lea Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released. "If anybody thinks they're going to be in a place where they're going to encounter bees, they just need to go down and buy one of these hats," said Johnston, sporting his battered straw hat. "I'm calling it my official bee-fighting hat," he said. Africanized bees, brought to Brazil to cross with honeybees in the 1950s, first showed up in New Mexico in 1993, nesting in a tire in a corral in Hidalgo County. Since then, they have been identified in Luna, Grant, Catron, Dona Ana, Sierra, Otero, Eddy and Lea counties. A hybrid colony was confirmed about two years ago in Bernalillo County. (AP, 7/31/00).

Carlsbad, NM --- WOMAN DIES FROM BEE STINGS --- An elderly Eddy County woman died Thursday after being stung by bees, and authorities blocked off a square-mile neighborhood as a precaution while the hive was destroyed. Some bees will be sent to a Maryland lab today to determine if they are Africanized bees, which are more aggressive than the more common European honeybees. Lucille A. Kincaid, 74, was standing under some trees with her elementary school-age granddaughter, watching her husband, Noel, knock down a wasp nest, when bees attacked, said Eddy County Sheriff M.A. Chunky Click. She was stung "multiple, multiple times and she went down outside," Click said. The woman was not breathing when rescue workers arrived, he said. "She went into cardiac arrest, probably induced by the bee stings," Click said. Kincaid, mother of Eddy County Commissioner Laurie Kincaid, was revived but died at the Carlsbad hospital at 9:43 a.m. An autopsy was ordered. Her husband and granddaughter also were stung but were not seriously injured, Click said. Entomologists could not recall another death connected with bee stings in New Mexico. State entomologist Carol Sutherland of Las Cruces said no one knows whether the bees that stung Kincaid are Africanized because it's impossible to tell just by looking. Authorities blocked off the Kincaids' neighborhood just outside Carlsbad's city limits, telling people to stay indoors, Click said. Fire crews, trained in Africanized bee procedures, hosed down the tree with water and soap while Houghton and two Waste Isolation Pilot Plant workers, dressed in protective gear, chopped down the tree and killed the bees. Africanized bees, brought to Brazil to cross with honeybees in the 1950s, first showed up in New Mexico in 1993, nesting in a tire in a corral in Hidalgo County, Sutherland said. Since then, they have been identified in Luna, Grant, Catron, Doña Ana, Sierra, Otero, Eddy and Lea counties, Sutherland said. (AP, 7/28/00).

Blacksburg, VA --- AFRICANIZED HONEY BEES IDENTIFIED IN VIRGINIA ---- All were destroyed, however VT Researchers will monitor the area --- The honey bees that attacked and killed a goat in Low Moor, Va., earlier this month were Africanized honey bees, according to U.S.. Department of Agriculture scientists who used a computer-assisted identification program to identify the bees. Officials at USDA and at Virginia Tech are quick to caution however that the Africanized bees were probably an isolated swarm that had caught a ride into the area on a truck or rail cars, and it's unlikely there are other colonies. "There were two 'swarms' at the hive near where the goat was killed. Those clustered on the front of the hive turned out to be the Africanized bees," said Richard Fell, Virginia Tech entomologist. "The bees that were inside the hive were regular European honey bees. Apparently, the Africanized bees were trying to take over the existing hive." Both clusters of bees were destroyed by Fell and Virginia Tech colleague Eric Day. Although there have not been any other indications or reports of aggressive actions by bees in the area, Fell said that Virginia Tech would be setting up monitoring sites near where the bees were discovered. Kim Kaplan, an Agricultural Research Service spokesperson, said it is not possible to tell Africanized honey bees (AHBs) from the European or feral bees by eye. Both types of honey bees look almost exactly alike and their venom is also similar. Distinguishing between AHBs and other honey bees is done by trained specialists using a special computer program, she said. "The behavior of all honey bees runs the continuum from docile to aggressive, depending on a number of factors including weather and the availability of nectar.," Kaplan said. "AHBs tend to be more defensive, stinging in greater numbers with less provocation. But they sting in defense of their nest; a single honey bee out looking for nectar is not dangerous unless you are allergic to bee stings." The chances of being killed by honey bees of any sort are actually less than the chances of being hit by lightning, according to Center for Disease Control statistics. Africanized honey bees (AHBs) are the hybrid of African honey bees, which were brought to Brazil in 1956 and accidentally released, and honey bees referred to as feral bees or European honey bees (EHBs), which were originally brought to the New World by European colonialists. Honey bees are not native to the U.S. AHBs spread north and south from Brazil and were first found in the U.S. in Hidalgo, TX in 1990. Since then they have spread to Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Nevada as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In addition, each year, a number of swarms are found to have hitched rides on ships, trains, and trucks, coming either from the Southwest U.S. or ships coming from South or Central America. Since January 2000, four such human-assisted transports have been identified as AHBs: one found in West Virginia, believed to have come from Brazil, two in Illinois, and this one in Virginia. In 1996, a swarm is believed to have gotten off a ship in Norfolk but wasn't discovered until it showed up in Maine, transported there by truck. The swarm was placed outside and the bees froze. This year, on July 5th bees attacked and killed an adult goat owned by James L. Downey in Low Moor. This goat was tethered about 20 feet from a active hive on a cloudy, rainy day. Downey tried to rescue the goat during the attack but was driven off by bees. He, his wife, Nannie Downey, and a sheriff's deputy had to be treated at a local hospital for bee stings. Members of the Selma Volunteer Fire Dept. were eventually able to wash the bees off the goat but it died about 30 minutes later. The next week, Virginia Tech's Day and Fell went to Low Moor and destroyed the hive, including the bees outside the hive. Day said the Africanized bees were most likely destroyed before they could establish a colony or reproduce with the European honey bees. Samples from the hive were then sent to an Agricultural Research Service laboratory in Beltsville for positive identification. (Virginia Tech Press Release, Stewart MacInnis, VT College of Agriculture and Kim Kaplan, USDA, Agricultural Research Service, 7/20/00).

For newspaper accounts of the incident, see the Roanoke Times story of 7/20/00 written by Lindsey Nair, the Roanoke Times story of 7/21/00 written by Lindsey Nair or the Richmond Times Dispatch story of 7/20/00 written by Rex Bowman.

College Station, TX --- LIBERTY COUNTY ADDED TO QUARANTINE LIST FOR AFRICANIZED BEES --- Liberty County has been added to the state quarantine, restricting the movement of commercial bee operations following the detection of Africanized honey bees there. The addition makes 121 counties in Texas now quarantined for Africanized honey bees, according to Paul Jackson, chief inspector for the Texas Apiary Inspection Service, a unit of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. Bees were collected from a trap monitored by the apiary service on Highway 105 about 3.5 miles east of Cleveland. "A sample was collected and sent to Texas A&M's Honey Bee Identification Lab where it was confirmed as Africanized," Jackson said. State bee inspectors continue to monitor a series of bee traplines that extend across the state from Louisiana to New Mexico, Jackson noted. The Africanized bee was first detected entering the United States near Brownsville in October 1990. Since then, the bee has spread through much of the state, along a line roughly from south of Houston to south of Lubbock to El Paso. Africanized honey bees also have been found in Arizona, California and New Mexico. (Kathleen Phillips, Texas A&M Agriculture News, 6/28/00).

Joshua Tree National Park, CA --- BEE SWARM ATTACKS JOSHUA TREE HIKERS ---- Man Stung 100 Times Breaks Leg Trying To Run Away ---- Part of the Joshua Tree National Park has been closed to visitors after a swarm of very aggressive bees attacked four hikers Sunday afternoon. One man was stung more than 100 times, causing him to fall and break his leg, as he sprinted for safety. One of the man's friends was stung more than 50 times, and two others suffered about 25 stings each, Joshua Tree National Park Ranger David Smith said. The attack occurred at about 11 a.m. on the northwest corner of Joshua Tree, located 100 miles east of Los Angeles. The four hikers dove into their car after the attack -- with some bees still clinging to them -- and drove to the Hi Desert Medical Center in nearby Joshua Tree. All were treated and released by Sunday evening. The victims' identities were not released. Park rangers said that until test results come back from Sacramento, they won't know whether the bees were the infamous Africanized "killer bees," or just normal honeybees. Though "killer bees" are notorious for their ferocious attacks, under the right circumstances regular honeybees can also swarm, Smith said. "We're in the middle of a long drought right now and bees are seeking out new forms of moisture, and that's possibly what happened," he said. (AP, 6/25/00).

Las Vegas, NV --- KILLER BEES COLONIZING VEGAS STRIP, TOURIST AREAS --- State and local experts are bracing for July, when Africanized bees are expected to create new nests and new hazards -- even in some favorite vacation spots. And although Las Vegas Valley's insect controllers say they are ready to handle the problem, an increasing number of the so-called "killer bees" are showing up in popular tourist areas such as the Strip and at the airport. At least 25 nests of the Africanized bees have been cleared away from Strip resorts in the past year, said Gina Stoneking, bee coordinator for the Nevada Division of Agriculture. "And that's only what we know about, because the pesticide companies turn them in to us, but not all of them," she said. The bees cluster on the sides of hotels, cracks in walls, around water or near picnic tables. A recent nest had settled on a crane at a water park. The bees also have taken a liking to McCarran International Airport, where they have swarmed onto the sides of jetliners, into engines and on the tarmac. The Africanized bees love the same places people settle because of food, water and sugar supplies, state Agriculture Administrator Paul Iverson said. "Bees will eventually determine that the Strip is a prime vacation area," Iverson said. "As our population continues to grow, those bees will continue to come." Instead of creating a new hive every year like European honeybees, the Africanized variety develops new nests several times a year. There is no method to rid an area of this bee species, once it is established, Iverson said. "We have to learn to live with them, and we will because they are here to stay." The bees became a problem in the Las Vegas Valley in May 1998. The first nest was discovered in Laughlin, and by August the bees had moved along the Colorado River to Boulder City, Henderson and Las Vegas, leaving a trail of dead snakes, rabbits and birds in their wake, Iverson said. There have been no deaths reported in Nevada from these honeybees, officials said. When the Africanized insects crossed the Mexican border into Texas in 1990, the border town of Hidalgo turned the event into a tourist attraction, erecting a statue to the bees. Tourists take their pictures in front of the killer bee. Two people in Las Vegas have been attacked. A 77-year-old woman stung 500 times in an attack in March is lucky to be alive, American Pest Control General Manager George Botta said. The bees have killed 1,000 people in South America since they escaped from a laboratory in Brazil. (The Salt Lake City Tribune, 6/17/00).

Mesa, AZ --- WHEN BEES ATTACK, DON'T FIGHT, JUST RUN --- Swarmed by bees while hiking recently in the Phoenix Mountains Preserve, Jim Merrill's first move was to stand and swat. Bad move. "It was pretty damn scary," said Merrill, who suddenly remembered bee advice he had read in the newspaper. The No. 1 tip: Run. So he did. Merrill, who had to run "a good 300 feet" before escaping the swarm, survived with just two stings - and a twisted ankle suffered during the dash. Due in part to the dry weather - which causes bees to be more protective of their hives - attacks like this are up sharply this spring. A dozen people were attacked at Mesa apartment complex last week, the third large-scale bee emergency in the East Valley in recent weeks. The Mesa Fire Department has been fielding 20 to 50 bee calls a day, said Mary Cameli, deputy fire chief, and it has responded to 188 emergency calls in the past seven weeks. In the same time period last year, Mesa firefighters responded to 128 bee calls. Last week in Cottonwood, seven people were attacked by bees at the Central Arizona Food Bank. No serious injuries were reported, although some victims were stung five times each. Animal control officers found a massive hive in the back of the building. It was 10 to 15 feet long, 4 to 5 feet wide and contained an estimated 30,000 bees. Most of the bees attacking this spring are likely an aggressive strain originating in Africa. Released accidentally in Brazil in 1956, the so-called "killer bees" have been buzzing steadily northward ever since. Arizona's first Africanized swarms were detected in 1995, Arizona State University bee researcher Jennifer Fewell said, and most local hives became Africanized by 1997. "You should be concerned about any quantity of bees going into and out of an enclosed area," said Dave Burns, general manager of Burns Pest Elimination in Tempe. "If you see four to five bees (exiting or entering) a storage shed or in through a crack, they're going in there for a reason" and are likely to aggressively defend their swarm or hive. "The most common call we get is, 'I'm laying out by the pool and I have these bees coming down drinking the water.' That's not a situation you need to be concerned about," he said. "That bee is as afraid of you as you are of him." In case of bee attack, Burns said, run. Then call 911. If you discover a hive that doesn't immediately endanger humans or animals, call an exterminator. Burns said his company charges $100 to $200 for bee removal. "We have to keep in mind that their behavior makes sense in context," ASU's Fewell said of the Africanized bees. "Where they come from, their main predator is man. People harvesting honey go in and rip it out of the wild hives. They've evolved a strategy to protect the hive, which works very well." For instructions as to what to do if attacked by bees, click here. (Dave Walker, The Arizona Republic, 5/22/00).

Las Vegas, NV --- GOVERNOR GUINN WORKING TO MANAGE NEVADA'S GROWING KILLER BEE POPULATION --- KLAS-TV 8 LAS VEGAS EYEWITNESS NEWS reported today Governor Kenny Guinn met with experts Thursday to come up with a plan to control the so-called killer bees. Governor Guinn says there are ten times more bees in Southern Nevada now than when they were first discovered here two years ago. The Governor met with the state Department of Agriculture Thursday to discuss strategies for managing and controlling the Africanized bees. Experts say all the recent bee attacks show that the problem is getting worse. Paul Iverson, of the Department of Agriculture says, “The longer they're here the more they establish they aren't aggressive. They're protective, but the more bees there are, the more chances we have of encountering that bee.” Experts warn people to check their homes for any hives, but don't try to get rid of the bees yourself. Call the state Agriculture Department to take care of the problem. If you have bees in your yard, here's a number for the BEE HOTLINE. The number is 385-5853. It’s a recorded message listing approved bee exterminators in the valley. (KLAS-TV 8 Las Vegas Eyewitness News, 5/19/00).

Las Vegas, NV --- OFFICIALS PROPOSE UNITED EFFORT ON BEES --- Concerned about the growing threat of Africanized honey bees, Gov. Kenny Guinn and state officials agreed Thursday to form a statewide task force that will approach potential attacks by Africanized bees as a public nuisance. The task force is expected to meet sometime in June to develop education and readiness plans for dealing with the so-called "killer bees" that swarmed into the Las Vegas Valley in 1998. Agriculture Department Director Paul Iverson said state officials expect the bee invasion to grow as the insects swarm throughout the valley and mate with the calmer European honeybees. After a 77-year-old Las Vegas woman was stung 500 times in an attack by the Africanized bees as she walked down 14th Street in downtown Las Vegas in March, Iverson said state agencies decided to counterattack the bee problem with a unified approach. The state estimates it will cost $800,000 a year to set traps, check them, destroy hives and mount emergency responses to bee attacks. Steps the task force may consider include setting traps to divert swams from swooping into resort areas along the Strip and downtown. After the brainstorming session, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said people should dial 911 only if a person is under attack. The Las Vegas Fire Department offers information on Africanized bees on its website www.ci.las-vegas.nv.us/fire-rescue/firetips/ahb.htm) or call the department's information hotline at 229-2000. (Mary Manning, Las Vegas Sun, 5/19/00).

Mesa, AZ --- AFRICANIZED HONEY BEES ATTACK AT LEAST A DOZEN PEOPLE IN MESA --- A pack of angry Africanized bees attacked at least a dozen people at a Mesa apartment complex Wednesday, charging fire crews who tried to help and chasing police officers back into their cars. By the time the rampage ended, the bees may have stung one woman 50 times. "They were mad at the world," said Marco Guerrero, who saw the bees attack a woman and then turn on him and his friends. Guerrero, 18, a senior at Mesa High School, outran the bees. But two of his buddies, as well as Karl and Erica Kugler, weren't so lucky. Karl had just dropped his wife off at the mailbox at the Superstition Vista Apartments on Broadway Road, near Gilbert Road, when she returned in a panic and ordered him to drive away. Kugler, 24, who had the couple's three children in the car, watched helplessly as Erica, 21, battled the bees."It was scary," he said. "They were aggressive." Karl chased after his wife in his car as she ran and tried to fight the bees off. Then, they charged at him through the open windows of his car, threatening to sting his kids. Karl sped around the complex, trying to wave the bees out of the car. He drove to his apartment, ran the kids inside, then searched for his wife. He found her in the pool, once again fighting bees. He rushed her to their apartment until paramedics arrived. Karl said Erica thought she had been stung at least 50 times. As Erica rested on a stretcher, she took deep breaths and complained to paramedics that the bees seemed to be stuck in her hair. Medics checked her over, gave her oxygen and transported her to Mesa Lutheran Hospital. Fire Capt. Ivard Brimley said two other people were transported to area hospitals. Paramedics treated 11 people for bee stings. Wednesday's bee attack is the third in recent weeks in the East Valley. On two occasions in April, bees attacked horses near Gilbert and attacked a man in Sun Lakes. Firefighter John Schutt said he did not see any bees when crews arrived at the apartment complex about 4 p.m. But the bees found him the minute he stepped out of the firetruck. Bees swarmed Schutt and another firefighter. Schutt said the bees struck his face two or three times, the only part of his body not covered by protective gear. "It's the most amount of bees I've seen in one place in my lifetime," he said. While battling the bees, Schutt said fire crews spotted a woman fighting off bees. They shot her with a blast of water. Dennis Brown, a spokesman for Burns Pest Elimination, said the critters had all the signs of Africanized bees. He said the bees swarmed him as he stood about 100 feet from the hive. Brimley said firefighters shot foam at the bees as they swarmed near a roofline. Later, firefighters cut a hole in the roof and found a beachball-size hive. Crews soaked the hive with foam to kill the bees. (Monica Davis, The Arizona Republic, 5/18/00).

A group of well-written and informative articles chronicling the present AHB situation in Las Vegas were posted in the May 15th edition of the Las Vegas Sun. The stories include:

--- LETS BEE CAREFUL OUR THERE - Education is the key to containing so-called 'killer bees' by Jerry Fink,

--- THE DO'S AND DON'TS OF DEALING WITH KILLER BEES by Jerry Fink, and

--- KILLER BEES MAKE HONEY TO DIE FOR by Jerry Fink.

Photographs were also posted with the pieces, including

--- AFRICANIZED BEES fly near the entrance to their mulberry tree hive by STEVE MARCUS,

--- RODNEY D. MEHRING JR., owner of Bee Master of Las Vegas, sprays insecticide into a beehive made in the hollow of a backyard mulberry tree. A piece of Fiberglas insulation stuffed in the entrance to the hive traps most of the bees in the tree by STEVE MARCUS

--- and RODNEY D. MEHRING JR., owner of Bee Master of Las Vegas, holds a handful of dead bees. by STEVE MARCUS.

--- Another photograph taken by ETHAN MILLER was posted in the Sun on 5/11/00

--- RODNEY MEHRING JR., owner of Bee Master of Las Vegas, removes a honeycomb from the trunk of a tree in the 1900 block of Houston Drive on Wednesday. High winds snapped off part of the tree, which fell on vehicles parked in the street. Mehring was called to exterminate a beehive that was found at the top of the stump..
(Las Vegas Sun, 5/15/00).

Phoenix, AZ --- BEE ATTACKS INCREASE --- Africanized honeybees are swarming early this year, and this winter's drought is to blame. Without enough water, plants that normally provide nectar and pollen for bees have dried up and the bees have come up short on honey. "When honey supplies slow or shut down, bees become more aggressive," said Tom Martin, owner of AAA Africanized Honeybee Removal Services in Tucson. "They put more guard bees at the entrances to protect the honey stores, and with more guard bees, there's a greater chance it will take less to provoke that colony." The result: three Africanized bee attacks in the Valley since April 3. Two men had to be hospitalized, including 76-year-old James McClellan, who was stung more than 300 times Wednesday at his Phoenix home. Two horses were stung in the third attack. All three hives contained at least 40,000 Africanized bees, Martin said. "Absolutely, this is going to be a very, very serious Africanized bee year or killer bee year. They're one and the same," Martin said. "Normally, we don't see these kinds of attacks at this time of year, so we expect it to get worse." Bees usually attack most in July, when their honey stores normally dry up, and in October, when they abscond from their hives in the desert and swarm to new locations and new honey sources in the city. Last year, the Phoenix Fire Department responded to 147 calls involving bees, Battalion Chief Decker Williams said. About 15 percent of the calls resulted in someone being taken to the hospital for bee stings. This year, the Fire Department has already answered 36 bee calls. "The problem is you get caught out somewhere and they come at you in swarms ans you've got some foam with you, you're up a creek. They're going to get you," Williams said. "I'm no bee expert, but I don't mess with them anymore." Africanized honeybees, along with 17 queen bees, were brought from Africa to Brazil in 1956, with the intent of cross-breeding them with European honeybees to create a hybrid that would produce more honey. But the bees escaped later that year and expanded their territory as far north as Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. They have killed at least four people in Arizona since they were discovered in June 1993. More than 98 percent of bee colonies discovered in Phoenix house Africanized bees, Martin said. Common locations: on roof lines, at the bottom of sheds, in dog houses and on tree branches. "Any sounds that are different or smells that are different will set off an attack," Martin said, especially if honey supplies are suffering. "They're trying to keep other bees from robbing their honey stores." The key to avoiding attacks is to notice the colonies early and do something about them. Martin suggests that homeowners inspect their properties weekly for hives and have them eradicated by professional bee removers licensed by the Arizona Structural Pest Commission. "When you encounter a bee colony, do not try to abate the colony yourself. Get out of the area," Martin said. "It's a serious, serious thing." (Judi Villa, The Arizona Republic, 4/14/00).

Navasota, Texas --- KILLER BEES SWARM IN THE SOUTHWEST --- Killer bees invade North America. That sounds like a classic science fiction story. But in the past couple of years it’s gotten to be a serious condition in the Southwest. And now the swarms of bees are moving north, giving the public and public health officials problems they’d rather not have. AFRICANIZED KILLER BEES swarm over their victims, stinging them on any exposed skin - the hands, the face - and repeatedly pumping venom into the flesh. They nest anywhere near the ground and anything can make them angry. If you get close enough, and just by casting a shadow ... that is enough to disturb it, said Dr. Paul Jackson, the Texas state entomologist. When it comes to the threat they pose to people, a beekeeper in Texas once compared killer bees to rattlesnakes - they don’t kill that many people, but they are deadly. They first escaped from a laboratory in Brazil in 1957, traveling thousands of miles and killing seven people along the way. They reached Texas in 1990, where they attacked Juan Flores while he was mowing the grass. I removed bunches of them, Flores said. I squeezed some of them, I got bitten or I got stung on my fingers. Then they attacked the police who were trying to help Flores. By 1994, the killer bees reached Georgetown, Texas, 170 miles south of Dallas, where they stung J.C. Johnson Jr. and his father more than 1,000 times. There wasn’t but one or two minutes when I thought it might be fatal, said J.C. Johnson Sr. KILLER BEES MIGRATE NORTH Now they can be found in more than half the counties in Texas, along with parts of New Mexico, Arizona, California and as far north as Las Vegas, Nev., where just last month they attacked a woman, stinging her 500 times and leaving her in critical condition. This month another nest was found near Fort Worth, in North Texas. It was a massive hive, said Kathleen Nipfer, the woman who found it. It just makes you wonder how many are actually really around, you know. That’s a question more and more experts are asking. They can survive some cold weather, that we know, said Jackson, who is surprised killer bees continue to survive freezing temperatures as they head north. His laboratory now gets reports of killer-bee sightings every day. In Texas, the Africanized bees, it’s my experience, they have been on the move 12 months out of the year, Jackson said. Binford Weaver has been raising domesticated European honeybees, the killer bee’s cousin, all of his life. Our domestic bee is not a vicious bee, Weaver said. Domestic bees are not aggressive and will not swarm over their victims. But Weaver urges beekeepers everywhere to be on the lookout for killer bees. Meanwhile, billions of bees continue to move toward the north and west. If you see them, about the only advice experts can offer is: Run. (MSNBC's Pencil News For Kids, 4/14/00).

College Station, TX --- TARRANT COUNTY ADDED TO QUARANTINE LIST FOR AFRICANIZED BEES --- Tarrant County has been added to the state quarantine, restricting the movement of commercial bee operations following the detection of Africanized honey bees there. The addition makes 120 counties in Texas now quarantined for Africanized honey bees, according to Paul Jackson, chief inspector for the Texas Apiary Inspection Service, a unit of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. Bees were collected from a tree by a Girl Scout camp near Pelican Bay in the northwestern part of the county. The hive apparently had been there several months. "A sample was collected and sent to Texas A&M's Honey Bee Identification Lab where it was confirmed as Africanized," Jackson said. It was determined that the bees had arrived on their own, Jackson explained, so the county was quarantined. State bee inspectors continue to monitor a series of bee traplines that extend across the state from Louisiana to New Mexico, Jackson noted. (Kathleen Phillips, Texas A&M Agriculture News, 4/5/00).

Las Vegas, NV --- SWARMING BEES THREATEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL --- A threatening swarm of bees kept hundreds of elementary school students indoors Tuesday afternoon. Authorities say the bees were swarming in preparation for building a hive about 30-feet from the Richard Bryan Elementary School. A passerby saw the bees swarming near the school at about 2:30 Tuesday afternoon. More than 800 students were kept indoors for more than half an hour as a precautionary measure while firefighters sprayed the bees with a mix of soap and water: School principal, Bart Mangino, said, "There were no children anywhere near that and that's why we did a shelter in place, this way there would be no children anywhere near the vicinity of the bees." Firefighters will return to the area Tuesday evening to make sure that all of the bees were destroyed. Tests will also be conducted on the insects to determine if they are Africanized bees. (KLAS-TV 8, CBS Affiliate - Las Vegas, 3/28/00).

Las Vegas, NV --- CONFIRMED: WOMAN ATTACKED BY KILLER BEES --- A 77-year old woman is hospitalized in critical condition after bees attacked her stinging her more than 500 times. The Agriculture Department has confirmed that the bees were the Africanized bees, also known as "killer bees." It happened around ten Monday morning. The woman was walking near Maryland Parkway and 13th street when she was attacked. Firefighters hosed her off before rushing her to the hospital. Tim Szymanski of the Las Vegas Fire Department said, "For some reason when this lady was walking down the street her bags were giving off some kind of scent that told the bees to attack. Once they got her to the hospital they used duct tapes to try and get the stings off of her. There was a well-established colony in the trunk of this tree with well over 30-40 thousand bees inside." Maryland Parkway between Charleston and Bonanza was shut down for a few hours while crews got rid of the bees. This is the third time in six months that the so-called killer bees have attacked. (KLAS-TV 8, CBS Affiliate - Las Vegas, 3/28/00).

Las Vegas, NV --- WOMAN STUNG BY BEES 500 TIMES --- A 77-year-old woman lay in critical condition Tuesday after being stung more than 500 times by a swarm of killer bees. The woman, whose name was not released, was attacked while walking along a street a few blocks from her Las Vegas home, Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said. He said they may have been drawn to something in a bag she was carrying. Firefighters wearing special gear doused the woman with water to get about 200 bees off her. Two police officers were stung trying to rescue her. Hospital personnel used tweezers and duct tape to pull the stingers from her body. The state Agriculture Department confirmed the bees were Africanized bees, commonly known as killer bees because of the way they attack in swarms. The attack was the second in the Las Vegas area since January. On Feb. 9, a 79-year-old man was stung about 30 times. He survived. Africanized bees have killed an estimated 1,000 people as they migrated northward from Brazil beginning in 1957. The first swarm was reported in the United States in Texas in 1990. (AP, 3/28/00).

Tucson, AZ --- BEES ATTACK SEVEN WORKERS ON ROOF --- Africanized bees stung seven workers at an eastside store at least a dozen times each yesterday, in the first major bee attack of the year. The attack marks the beginning of a prime season for encountering the super-defensive Africanized honeybees, some experts say. The laborers were working on the roof at the Albertson's supermarket at East 22nd Street and South Wilmot Road when the bees struck shortly after 10 a.m. "We're definitely in swarming season right now, especially for Africanized honeybees," said Tom Martin, owner and president of AAA Africanized Bee Removal Specialists in Tucson. The southeast side seems to have the largest local population of Africanized bees, he added. Two of the roofers were stung 50 times each, mostly on the face, neck and head, said Tucson Fire Department spokesman Capt. Joe Gulotta. Six of the seven workers, who ranged from 24 to 54 years old, were taken to St. Joseph's Hospital. All were expected to recover, fire officials said. "One minute I was tearing off the roof and the next it seemed like everywhere I looked there were bees," said 50-year-old Michael Barrett, who was stung about 20 times, mostly on his face, head and arms. Said Creighton Allen, 39, "One started attacking me and I didn't pay no mind. But then they covered me." He said he was so frightened by the attack that he jumped 20 feet from the roof to a lower ledge, and then jumped from the ledge to the ground to escape the bees. "I couldn't get down the ladder. I've never seen that many bees in my life. It was like out of a movie or something." As Allen spoke, another bee climbed out of his clothing and began flying around him. "I am not coming back to this job, that's for sure," Allen said, as he ran from the rogue bee. The six men and one woman who were stung are employed by Labor Express Inc., 3860 S. Palo Verde Road. "I'm still in pain," Barrett said later. Steven Thoenes, president of Beemaster Inc. in Tucson, identified the bees involved in yesterday's attack as Africanized. He estimated there were 30,000 to 35,000 bees in the colony. Firefighters found the bees' nest in a fenced-in area next to the grocery store, where the roofers had thrown some debris. A Bobcat tractor, operated by one of the workers, had been removing the debris from the nesting area. The Tucson Fire Department killed the bees with a foamy soap and water mixture and uncovered four large pallettes of honeycomb. "We don't want to go and arbitrarily kill bees, but when they are aggressively attacking people we need to take care of them, and this is certainly an aggressive hive," Gulotta said. Africanized bees, a tropical variety, migrated into the United States from Mexico in 1990. They hit Arizona in 1993 and have been blamed for the deaths of four people in the state, including one Pima County man, as well as the deaths of several pets. The bees become aggressive with much less provocation than their European honeybee cousins. "Typically at this time of year a European colony would not be aggressive," said Martin, a former commercial beekeeper and researcher at the federal Carl Hayden Bee Research Lab. "Research has shown that the (Africanized) venom is slightly more toxic, but the real threat in encountering them is that while the European bees send three or four guard bees to sting an intruder, an Africanized colony would send out 300 to 400 to sting," Martin said. "It happens very quickly - within a matter of seconds." While Tucson beekeepers continue to use European bees for honey production, more than 95 percent of the city's feral bee population is Africanized, according to bee removal specialists. Thoenes, who ran the state's now-defunct Africanized Bee Program in the early 1990s, said the number of Africanized bees here has ballooned since 1994. Paramedics tend workers Michael Barrett, left, and Creighton Allen. "We have thousands and thousands of colonies now in Tucson," he said. Thoenes said most serious Africanized bee attacks occur in April and October, when the colonies are at their peak size. The colonies build and then divide in half, he explained. He said Tucson now has 33 companies that specialize in bee removal. "We are doing more than 3,000 jobs per year and it's gone up to 97 or 98 percent Africanized," Thoenes said. "The reproduction is getting worse and worse. Every year we are getting further behind the bees." Thoenes stressed that Africanized bees attack only when they are disturbed. "Their evolutionary force is predators. Only the mean ones survived. But they don't search for targets," he said. Africanized bees flourish in tropical areas, and are rarely found in barren desert areas. But in the city, where plants from the southern hemisphere bloom and food and water are available, the bees have a high reproductive rate, he said. (Stephanie Innes, The Arizona Daily Star, 3/14/00).

Las Vegas, NV --- VALLEY BUZZ --- RECENT ATTACKS SERVE TO REMIND THAT AFRICANIZED BEES HAVE ARRIVED IN LAS VEGAS AND, EXPERTS SAY, THEY ARE HERE TO STAY. A very well written feature article was published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal today, detailing the history and present status of Africanized honey bees in southern Nevada. The piece, written by Joe Schoenmann, can be read in its entirety by clicking here. (Joe Schoenmann, The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 2/13/00).

Las Vegas, NV --- BEE STINGS SEND MAN TO HOSPITAL --- A swarm believed to be 'killer bees' chases a 79-year-old and sting him about 30 times.A 79-year-old man attacked Wednesday by hundreds of bees living in a massive hive on his backyard fence was stung about 30 times as he ran down the street, shouting for help before finding refuge inside a passing city vehicle. One neighbor said the man, Ed Feezor, pounded on his door screaming as the bees swarmed around him. " 'Help me! Help me!' he was yelling," said Jorge Malta, who shares the fence with Feezor. Malta said when he looked out his door, he saw some 150 to 200 bees circling and stinging Feezor's head. "I open my door, but 20 bees fly in. I tried to open more. Impossible. They follow me in, they get in my hair, they attack my dogs and my ferret. I can tell you, I have never before seen such a thing." Feezor ran off, Malta said, adding that he knew if his neighbor didn't get help, "forget it, he dies." The bees won't be examined by a state entomologist until today, but state officials said late Wednesday there is little doubt they were Africanized honey bees, also known as killer bees. "I would assume that every bee you see right now -- every honey bee, not yellow jackets -- are Africanized bees," said Paul Iverson, Nevada Department of Agriculture director. Feezor, who lives in the 1200 block of Saylor Way, across the street from Culley Elementary, 1200 N. Mallard St., was admitted to University Medical Center just after noon and released shortly afterward. His hands bandaged and his face reddened in spots, he spoke to the Review-Journal from his home about his frightening experience but did not want to be quoted for a story. One woman walking down the sidewalk with her children said when she first saw Feezor, she thought he was suffering an epileptic seizure. "It was pretty scary," said Melissa Olsen. "He was smacking himself in the face and the head." Olsen said she ran away with her kids, passing a man on a bicycle who had stopped to see what was going on. Within seconds, she said, the bicyclist was pedaling fiercely down the street, trying to swat bees at the same time. Tim Szymanski, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman, said Feezor got about a block down Saylor before he was able to chase down a city vehicle. Szymanski said the city worker opened the door, but when the worker started getting stung, he left the vehicle parked in the middle of the street, with Feezor inside. The worker called 911 and Feezor was taken to the hospital. Bees die after they sting, and Szymanski said several dead bees were found in the vehicle. "We were told he was covered with bees," Szymanski said. Until an exterminator arrived, the Fire Department blocked off streets around Feezor's home, and children at Culley Elementary were kept inside. Szymanski said the children weren't necessarily in danger of being stung, but it was felt that noise of excitable children might agitate the bees. A can of Raid was seen near the hive, around it several dead bees. The exterminator, Grady Jones of Western Exterminator Co., described the hive as 4 feet by 6 feet and roughly 4 months old. "They were acting a lot like Africanized honey bees," he said. "I even got stung in the face." Malta said he first noticed the bees around December and his children were forbidden from playing in the back yard. Jones said he would return today to make sure a swarm of bees that was seen leaving the hive did not come back and try to build another. Szymanski said that swarm was seen by people in the neighborhood, some of whom reported it to the Fire Department. The attack was the first by suspected killer bees since October, when a swarm of bees killed a dog and attacked a Las Vegas girl who was trying protect the animal. That same month, a man in Long Beach, Calif., was stung to death by bees while mowing his lawn. Iverson said the mild winter and recent warm weather have gotten flowers to bloom earlier than usual and have made the bees more active. "What we're seeing should be happening in March or April," he said. "But the bees don't know that. They're going out and swarming already." Malta, who would not step within four feet of the downed honeycomb in his back yard, said that although each of his pets vomited after being stung, they all survived. He brought out his ferret, Bonita, stroking her fur and gazing at the precisely constructed hive. "You don't think they'll be back, do you?" he said. (Joe Schoenmann, The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 2/10/00).

Acapulco, Mexico --- 'KILLER' BEES ATTACK KIDS IN MEXICO --- A swarm of Africanized ``killer'' bees attacked students at a primary school in Acapulco on Monday, leaving five children in serious condition, the Mexican government news agency reported. More than 20 students were stung at the Vicente Guerrero school and taken to Acapulco's General Hospital, Notimex reported, citing education officials. Classes were suspended to allow authorities to destroy the bees. Officials said high humidity in the aging school building likely attracted the colony. Stings from Africanized bees are not more potent than other varieties, but they are more aggressive and attack in large numbers. They appear very similar to European bees, although killer bees have a shorter wingspan. (AP, 1/10/00).

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