Wait! I Thought They Were All Dead

Honeybees are invading New Orleans. But...but...but..I thought cell phones killed them all off. Oh. I see. They are KILLER honeybees. Anything that’s deadly will never die in the media.

Africanized honeybees, a fierce hybrid strain sometimes referred to as “killer bees,” appear to have established themselves in the New Orleans area, the state agriculture commissioner said.

A swarm of the bees was captured about five miles from where demolition workers found a colony of Africanized bees in January, commissioner Bob Odom said Tuesday.

The most recent find was close enough to the earlier find that the bees might have come from the same colony. But they might also have flown ashore from a passing ship or barge, Odom said in a news release.

“Although the exact source can’t be identified, we have to assume Africanized honeybees are now established in the area and people should be careful when working outside,” Odom said.

The Department of Agriculture and Forestry keeps traps along a north-south line through the state and at all deepwater ports to monitor the bees, which are smaller and more aggressive than the European honeybees raised for honey.

“Because Africanized bees have been labeled ‘killer bees’ for years, there’s an idea around that they are bigger than European honeybees,” Odom said. “The truth is they’re actually smaller but a lot fiercer.”

I used to be a 911 dispatcher in South Texas.  We had problems with those bees and had a special truck, “the bee truck”, to deal with them.  Any time a nest was found, we’d send the truck out to deal with it.

I remember one rancher who didn’t survive.  He had over 50 stings.

Posted by  on  09/12  at  06:23 PM

Wow, that’s a nasty way to go.

Posted by James Hudnall  on  09/13  at  07:47 AM
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