Who cares? Is this really news?

Wow, you really have no concept of the threat posed by an aggressive swarm of bees. They stay upset a long time, will chase people over a mile, and will attack relentlessly. In this case, it doesn't appear that they had any home to return to, since their hive was destroyed.

Poor little puppy!! NO puppy should ever be subject to such pain and death! But, were these Africanized bees? If so, they are VERY hard to control and eradicate! OUCH!!

Really. Millions of peaceful honeybees killed!

Oh yea, they killed a pit bull pup..... Too bad, now it won't grow up to attack and kill a child in a pack.

Why would the child be in a pack?

People almost always confuse a yellow jacket wasp with a honey bee. Stand along side a trash can in a picnic area and black & yellow striped creatures are flying around and even trying to get to your pop can. People will comment, "Oh, look at all those bees." They are NOT BEES, they are wasps. Honey bees are short-bodied, somewhat hairy & stumpy looking and hover around flowers. They do not hang around trash cans or tables with pop cans. They seldom attack unless protecting their hive. And if they sting, they only sting once because they then must die, losing their stinger. Only females sting. However, wasps do not lose their stinger and can sting multiple times. If the puppy was actually attacked by BEES, they may have been the Africanized bees which are hybrids of the African killers and honey bees. Some jackass some years ago imported the killer bees to South America from Africa for experiments. They escaped their enclosure, started to interbreed, and began their steady march northward to the United States. They can adapt to climate. They are now here in droves and they are relentless. You can outrun honey bees, but not killer bees. Another example of brainless stupidity in carelessly bringing non-native species to the Western Hemisphere. They are destroying our pollinating honey bee population.

Our native honey bee has largely disappeared, though not due to the Africanized bees; it's not clear why exactly. The sting of the Africanized bee is no worse than that of our native honey bee. Unfortunately these bees swarm and that is their danger..... which is too easy to overstate. They can and DO kill the occasional innocent, unlucky human or pet. Sorry, but they are part of life now in the western hemisphere and must do the job formerly done by the native, but now uncommon, honey bee.

Fawna: First off, these were not "Honey" bees. They were the Africanized "Killer" Bees. Secondly, you seem to be quite ignorant of this breed. It appears you need an education on both, or you are just another damned troll. I'ld rather seen them torch the bees than to have seen that pup die. As I stated in the first thread:

"Petey", the dog in the old Hal Roach series, "The Little Rascals" (aka - "Our Gang") was a "Pit". They are quite lovable dogs. The only problem with them occurs when their OWNERS fail....

darnthatdream,

Sorry but what we call honey bees are feral bees that were brought over from Europe.

It wasn't a swarm.

It was what we call a "bee-tree".

It had an active hive in it.

They were just going about business.

The idiots who cut the tree down should have noticed this before they to a saw to it.

Many troubles come in from Africa, you named...

It's accurate, not politically incorrect. The aggressive species of bees originated in Africa and were brought to Brazil by a scientist back in the 50's. Unfortunately, a couple queens escaped and the aggressive bees have been slowly moving north ever since. Some people have started calling them "Brazilian Bees", so use that if you're so inclined.

Also, as a beekeeper, I can tell you the correct term is defensive, not aggressive. These stories make news because they feed on the fears that Africanized bees are out to kill people. Not in the least. The bees I keep are partially Africanized (and, believe it or not, intentionally bred that way from a supplier).

I can guarantee you that if I went at ANY hive with a chainsaw, well... Most bee attacks occur from a severe disturbance to the hive. Also, bees hate vibration, so tractors, lawnmowers, and chainsaws will frequently get their defenses up.

Politically correct, or incorrect, it makes no difference. The African strains of honeybees were introduced into South, or Central America, they do have some genetic differences from the traditional 3 banded Italian bees, which increases their survivability and honey production. The problem is, they hybrid with the bees in their environment, and bring with them a very aggressive tendency, these are the 'killer bee' category, they will attack, they have been known to attack in sufficient numbers to kill. These hybrid bees are referred to as "Africanized', they are not the African bees, but a hybrid of the African bee. What this does is allows for a climate resistance that the African bee doesn't have, which allows them the ability to migrate north. This has lead to reported attacks. Any honeybee will attack when they sense a threat to the colony, if they sense a strange odor, or something that they aren't familiar with. Beekeepers will usually spend a lot of time in the apiaries, so they can monitor their bees, and the bees will become familiar with their keeper. It is a common practice to leave a dirty worn garment near the apiary, that the beekeeper has worn, to familiarize the bees with the keepers scent, so this is something the bees expect. The bees with the African genes are a whole different situation. The only way to get a good colony from them, is to kill the queen, and replace her with a queen of a variety of milder disposition, within a few weeks, she will replace the bees with her own, as they live thru their life cycle and die. I wouldn't want to try this, but some do. If I happened upon a 'Africanized' colony, what I would do, is wait until late evening, suit up, and take a lawnmower engine, hook a hose to the exhaust, then tape the other end into the hive entrance, start it, and let the carbon monoxide suffocate the bees overnight. Nearly all the bees in a colony will return by night time, except the workers which have flown too far away, there usually aren't many of those. I wouldn't advise anyone that doesn't handle bees to try this, and it is best to calmly walk away, seeking a shaded area, bright sunlight, and fast movements can aggravate bees of any variety, it's a common mistake, they can fly faster than you can run. Bees can sense fear in a person, we produce a chemical they can smell, and they don't like it, it's best to remain calm. When I set up new colonies, I spend considerable time letting the bees know me, working with them, checking the hives. When most people do this, and the bees know you, you remain calm around them, domesticated bees are a lot of fun. I often let them crawl on my skin when near the apiary, all they want is to get a little salt or moisture from my sweat, they will crawl, then fly back. I never swat at them, or try to kill them, they are very sensitive to smells, if you kill one, it will give off a scent, which alarms the other bees, then you have a problem.

Dear Andy:

It was my understanding that since many of the bees don't live longer than several weeks, the hive can't really "know" you. Are you sure it's not just the temperament of your hive, and the calm attitude you assume?

I think my bees are "nice" because I move slowly and deliberately with them.

SB,

Mine are Italians, Buckfast, and Midnights, they usually have mild temperament. In our area, these are the common varieties. It isn't that they actually know their keeper so much as they recognize the keepers scent, and don't consider that scent to be a threat to the colony. As a child, I was shown a 'trick' from a old beekeeper, to take a t-shirt I had gotten sweaty in, then hang it near the apiary, on a tree or something, to familiarize the bees with my scent, so it would be normal to them. Bees are extremely sensitive to scents, any strange scent alarms them. Any time the guards sense the colony is threatened, they will defend the colony, if they don't sense a threat, they are quite a pleasure to work with.

Great tips and info, Mutton Jeff, SB from Texas and Andy Blackwood! Thank you for enlightening folks about bees! Even though I'm allergic, I just love my little sweet and docile Russian girls.

It's very sad, what happened to this puppy, and it could have happened to anyone in the vacinity. Just because my girls are tolerant of me, doesn't mean they wouldn't go after anyone or anything that threatened their hive...and I'm also inclined to believe a reputable tree trimmer would have checked the tree out before taking it down.

It's a sad thing to "criminalize" bees. They have a rough time of it, and we can't live without them. That poor puppy was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sympathies to his human "family".

Andy and SB -

Very interesting posts. Thanks for your input. I do feel so sorry for that puppy.

I'll keep that trick in mind if I ever start keeping my own bees which I hope to do.

To all the pit bull haters...many breeds you recognize as safe are also bully breeds. To that end, in order to get a American Pit Bull Terrier to bite a human, some serious work has to be done. I'm talking levels of abuse that if done to a human child, most of us would have no problem seeing a bullet put between the offenders eyes. There are exceptions(poor breeding can cause neurological problems that affect behavior) and those exceptions are becoming more and more common because the APBT is the most common breed found in the US and lots of people are breeding the animal for dog fighting. The dogs they cannot fight get sold off as pets to unsuspecting and unprepared families...or are used as someone else's new guard dog. This is a dog not meant for guarding because they are too friendly with other humans, even strangers. So the only way you end up with a dog that will attack is by teaching the dog to attack, being abusive, or not showing it you are the alpha and that it must see all members of your family as more important than it. This is where most dog bites happen because owners have a combination of the problems above, often never realizing it until after the dog has hurt someone badly because, as crazy as it sounds, many never pay attention and let the animals alone with children. While some of these owners are honest people not fighting dogs and what not, many do but what are they going to say when the media comes knocking? "I abused my dog so he would guard our house and he bit my son." "I fight dogs for money/to be cool/to be part of a gang." "I wanted to be tough so I bought a pit bull and I made him mean---then he bit my mom when she tried to walk him." <---there is a YouTube video of this exact thing happening in Venice and the poor mother who was bitten blamed her son, not the pit bull.

I could go on and on but suffice to say it doesn't matter. Intelligent people who dislike pit bulls will be willing to seek the truth while others will continue being ignorant about a breed they have never seen in action---truly buying into the media hype. I've owned my current pit for 6 years. He's never showed a sign of aggression toward another human or animal---for starters, as a responsible owner, I would not put up with such behavior but also because raising a dog is as simple as paying attention to the world around you. Comparably, the dog up the street gets defensive on his walks because his owner is afraid---yes, he is defending her. Afraid of what I don''t know but the dog acts aggressively because he can sense her fear and apprehension just like I can see it. When I pass by his yard, I never see that aggression---I digress. My point is dogs live in their own world. They have rules according to social interactions just we do---if a strange person approaches us, we will defend ourselves. Well, the only way a dog can defend itself is with its teeth. If those rules are followed in the dog world, you'll never have a problem dog. If you don't follow those rules, your dog will end up causing a dog fight(and all too often it is the dog that has good manners that gets blamed) or cause a human to be bitten.

Just a little dog psychology lesson. It is worth learning if you have a dog or even just want to keep your family safe from other dogs.

As a fellow beek myself, I agree that swarm is not technically correct. But once a huge mass of bees has left the hive to participate in an attack, I still thing "swarm" is a pretty good descriptive word.

Why would a bee keeper want Africanized bees? From what I understand they produce less honey and are poor pollinators.

Slodon:

I'm glad you asked. Africanized bees are thought to be more resistant to the problems killing off many bees these days, such as mites and various viruses. They've shown themselves to be tough little bastards.

As a beek, you DONT want Africanized bees - it was a mistake from 50 years ago we have to live with now. But in the area, there they are. The farther north you go, the less % of the AHB genetics are there.

I know you are kidding, right?

Bees are the world's pollinators.

Without them you would have very little of any fruit or vegetables.

The honey is a nice by-product.

But bees help keep food on your table.

These bees can only live in certain areas. And China is nowhere near Brazil (how Africanized bees got to this continent). It's a temperature thing

While bees are NOT native to this side of the world, and the Americas have gotten along fine without them, they are crusial to various American industries now (almonds, citrus, and others)

Without bees, we starve. Simple. Right now, they're pollinating. I'm in the middle of vineyards and almond orchards. I keep my windows up driving out here this time of year because of the bees. California is big on agriculture, supplying a large part of your produce all over the nation, and those bees are vital to crops.

Very Sorry what happened to the puppy!!!

Well, some people learned a little about the importance of bees.

This is true.

And that should tell you something.

I'd have no problem with your comment if you had just said this was a useless story. That puppy was like any one of hundreds of pit bulls put down every day because of ignorant views like yours. And the irony? At least you have enough brain power to recognize that the owner is largely responsible for evil dogs---but then why did you say it is arguably the most dangerous dog known to man? Because it's not. They are powerful and intelligent....along with that they can take a great deal of pain. This is a breed for experienced dog handlers. Not gangs, drug dealers, dog fighters, racists, etc. All of whom are responsible for the large number of pits in this country. Our shelters are filled with pit bulls and pit mixes. Many of those dogs are killed in those shelters...simply because they are pits. This is sad when pits are not human aggressive. If someone robbed my apartment, my dog would gladly go home with them. Pits can be dog aggressive but if I have learned anything since adopting mine, other dogs who haven't been socialized are the main problem. Their owners think they are angels only to have them jumping on my dog and checking out his naughty bits when he is not okay with that right away---and who is going to get blamed when my dog reacts because the other dog was crossing boundaries he'd never get away with in a dog pack or in the wild as a wolf(the ancestor of all dogs)? Mine even though all he did was what any normal, socialized dog would do---or human for that matter when approached by a stranger that scares them.

I agree. Our language is being mutilated and slaughtered like no other time. Slang was one thing but our language today has been completely dumbed down. introduction to dictionary of new words or acronyms has reduced our language to bits of street and thug dialect. gangsta talk should not be recognized or given a place in the civilized dictionaries. street talk should stay on the street.

Why does someone always have to bring politics into something where it doesn't belong?

Hahaa... I only clicked on this story because I wanted to see how long it would take for someone in the comments to either blame Republicans or mention George Bush/Dick Cheney.

Liberals never disappoint with their stupidity.

And those posts are usually followed by the people who blame everything on the "liberals"(tm)...

Lol, sometimes I just can't help myself!

People kill a lot more children in one week than pits do in a year. Some dogs are aggressive, and pits can be very aggressive especially when they are trained or tortured into being that way. I am sorry but, condemning all dogs of a particular breed is akin to condemning all people based on the actions of a few idiots.

I think only nests of 15 or less bees should be legal. NY should only be allowed 7 or less bees per nest.

Hey look Rodney made a fuuuunnneeee! At least in his idiotic, single-track "ban bees/cars/ravioli!!!1!1!" so-called mind...