African Killer Bees An Experiment Gone Bad Now in US With Recent Attacks in Florida

Normally African killer bees would not really be a topic I would write about, but with 3 attacks that I am aware of, two locally and one very close to where I grew up, it definitely peaked my interest and a need for further investigation.

I'm not going to get in a big dissertation of how it all began (you can watch the 3 min video) but in short in Brazil they bred European bees who were very docile, with African bees to increase honey production and ended up with a very aggressive breed of bees. An experiment that went wrong without a doubt. The problem is some of these bees escaped from Brazil and now are literally endangering the natural habitat of the rain forests, and have also made there way into the southwestern US as well as other areas..

These bees are easily agitated and will attack almost anything from humans, dogs, horses, pigs, etc. In the 09/15/2011 video you can see the news story of the bees attacking and killing a 1000 hog and putting an 800lb pregnant pig into a coma on a farm in Arizona. Considering the thickness of their skins and the fat layer this is quite amazing and shows just how aggressive they are stated the excavator. .He also went on to comment this is the most aggressive he has seen the bees in the last ten years he's been doing this.

One of the attacks was just three lots from my house as you can see in the picture and landed the gentleman in the hospital for three days, (March 2012) being stung over 350 times. He told me how he was moving the house with the tractor to get ready for the controlled burn and they attacked, chasing him as he got off the tractor to run for the road for help. Thank the big guy upstairs there was a trooper who had someone pulled over and observed the swarm, getting help there fast enough to save his life. The exterminator and remover of the bees stated there were bees in the hundreds of thousands and together with a removal just a half a mile away from a house that was vacant, in the millions.

The other attack was 30 minutes away (Nov 2011) where a woman was stung over 300 times and ended up in the hospital. The last was also in Nov 2011 and resulted in the death of a 49 yr old gentleman who fell off of a chair while attempting to remove the killer bees himself.and was attacked. He was doing renovations to the home which had been in the family since 1924 according to The Miami Herald.. The home was said to have over 60,000 bees according to Willie Skarloff who runs a bee eradication company.

Then when I looked to see if how Pete was attacked recently had been in the paper or on the news and it wasn't, I realized a lot of attacks are never even made public With these recent attacks and his stern warnings and detailed story of the horrifying experience, added to a controlled burn behind my house just a week ago there was a definite need to be more observant

Please if you find a bee hive while gardening, remodeling your house, on a playground, or in the park DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE IT Depending on the size of the hive, the amount of bees and what type of bees, get a professional killer bee exterminator who will take care of everything including the removal. Be observant about your surroundings and remember if they are in a roof, attic, hole, etc and you cannot see the entire hive there is probably a lot more there than meets the eye.

There are several websites out there explaining DIY methods for the removal of these bees but I would beg you to ride on the side of caution, it's obviously not worth the risk

Now don't panic they say it takes approximately 500 stings to kill a person and I don't know about you but I'm not taking any chances. One bee sting is enough for me and I don't even like that..

Have an incredible day and take care.