Officials Abuzz With Plans as Killer Bees Head North

Though Africanized “killer” bees aren’t expected to reach San Diego County for several years, county and state agriculture officials are taking no chances.

The county agricultural commissioner’s office has set a bee trap near each of the county’s three border crossings--San Ysidro, Otay Mesa and Tecate--in the hope that none of the Africanized bees enter the county from Central or South America without agriculture and health officials knowing about it.

State agriculture officials have set three traps of their own in the county, including one at San Diego Bay, where they fear the bees are most likely to appear.

“We are on the front-line as one of the first counties in California that will be hit by the Africanized bee,” said David Kellum, an entomologist with the county agricultural commissioner’s office. “If we have a stinging incident here, it will become national news. The county will have to

coordinate its efforts with the tourist industry to assure the people the situation is under control.”

The county traps, baited with a pheromone that will attract all bees, are made of corrugated paper and look like a hollow tree. Biologists check the traps once a week, when the bees are killed with a spray and taken to a laboratory to determine if any are the Africanized variety.

State officials have set about 36 traps throughout California, primarily in coastal areas where the bees might come ashore off ships.

Scientists expect the Africanized bees to arrive in Texas early next year and in San Diego two to five years later. They are now found as far north as the Mexican state of Veracruz, about 300 miles south of Brownsville, Tex. Officials believe the bees are more likely to enter along coastal areas such as San Diego rather than in areas such as the Imperial Valley because Africanized bees have an aversion to deserts.

Why all the fuss over these dreaded hybrids?

Persistent, Large Swarms

Though their venom is no more potent than that of the native European variety found in the United States, the Africanized insects sting in larger swarms and generally pursue an intruder for a longer time over a greater distance.

More than 300 people have reportedly died in the wake of the Africanized bees’ northward flight since they were released--some say escaped--from a laboratory in Brazil in 1956. The ornery and unpredictable bees are a cross between European bees and an Africanized strain.

In addition to posing a health problem, the Africanized bees are also a threat to California crops that rely on pollination, an industry worth $2 billion a year, and to the state’s $18 million-a-year honey production business, according to Kellum.

As the largest bee-keeping state in the nation, California will be particularly hard hit by the Africanized bees, according to Pat Paswater, apiary projects leader with the state Department of Food and Agriculture.

Professional pollinators who transport bees to farms and fields face the problem of attempting to control Africanized bees. Fields, for example, might have to be abandoned by human workers while the bees pollinate crops.

The additional costs pollinators will suffer in handling Africanized bees and trying to keep them away from their European colonies will inevitably be passed on to farmers and then to consumers, said Paswater, in a telephone interview from Sacramento.

For those in the honey business, the Africanized bee presents another problem besides its ill temper: It devours much of its own honey, thus making it a less-efficient honey producer than the European bee.

Look-Alikes

Africanized bees reaching the county via trucks, planes or ships from Central or South America could proliferate unless officials keep a close watch. Very close. Even entomologists cannot distinguish Africanized bees from native European honey bees without putting them through a series of tests, Kellum said.

Adding to the potential for an early explosion of Africanized bees in the county are the bees’ dominant traits: a European strain of bee becomes Africanized when it crossbreeds with bees carrying genes from the African bees. Rather than coexist with other bees, Africanized bees take over hives, push aside rivals and dominate mating.

Also, Africanized bees are more prolific breeders than Europeans and swarm five or six times a year; European bees only swarm in the spring, Kellum said. European queens live for six months and lay 1,500 eggs a day; while Africanized queens live more than eight months and lay about 2,000 eggs daily.

Check of All Hives

If an Africanized bee is found in one of the traps, Kellum said, county biologists will inspect all bee colonies in the area, including those kept by beekeepers, to locate the Africanized bees. If a colony with Africanized bees is found, Kellum said, it will be destroyed--a practice that scientists expect will be commonplace once the bees arrive in great numbers.

Meanwhile, county and state officials plan to coordinate efforts to inform the public of how to avoid and report Africanized bees.

“They’re like a hurricane: You can’t stop them from coming but you can prepare for them,” Kellum said.

The county, Kellum said, is already considering the question of who will be responsible if a stinging death or serious injury occurs on public property, such as at a beach or park.

Paswater expects that, once the bees reach California, residents who live near pollinated crops or beekeeping sites will demand that the bees be removed.

“The public will perceive them as a threat, and just as any threat, there will be laws passed to minimize the problem,” he said. “Essentially, you’ll end up with a situation where it’s more difficult to pollinate crops that are close to residences. People will be very reluctant to have bees anywhere near where they are living.”