[StBernard] Africanized bees in St. Bernard, likely stowaway descendants

[Westley Annis]

Africanized bees in St. Bernard, likely stowaway descendants
1/5/2007, 5:39 p.m. CT
The Associated Press    

ARABI, La. (AP) - Aggressive Africanized bees drove away contractors hired
to tear down a flood-wrecked house here, then drove off the beekeepers
called in to catch them.

Mosquito control workers killed the bees, and the state agriculture
department confirmed Dec. 20 that they were hybrids with the aggressive
African strain, Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Bob Odom said.

"This is the first positive confirmation of Africanized bees in a structure
in the eastern part of the state," he said.

Arabi is in St. Bernard Parish, which was entirely flooded by Hurricane
Katrina.

Africanized bees were first found in Louisiana in July 2005, in traps on the
western edge of the state. However, the Arabi bees probably did not come
overland, Jimmy Dunkley, the department's coordinator of nursery and apiary
programs, said Friday.

Rather, he said, they probably were descendants of stowaways who arrived in
New Orleans on a ship.

Nine swarms have been intercepted at ports since 1988, he said: six in New
Orleans, two in Baton Rouge and one, this past October, at the Port of New
Iberia. Some were in shipping containers, some in barges, and some in the
ships themselves, he said.

On Monday, Dunkley said, a crew from his department will set up a circle of
traps a half-mile from the Arabi house in case any other swarms are still
around.

Odom said, "We want to determine if the bees are now established in the
southeast region of the state or if this is just a single incident."

All of the overland swarms found in the state so far turned up in 2005. Two
were trapped in Caddo Parish, one in DeSoto Parish, and three or four in
Cameron and Calcasieu parishes.

Louisiana's line of traps has been moved since then from the state line to
at least 40 miles east of it, Dunkley said.

Africanized bees are the result of an experiment to increase honey
production in Brazil. A swarm of the small, aggressive bees escaped the lab
in 1957 and headed north. When they mated with native strains, the offspring
turned out to be as aggressive as the African parents.

They reached Texas in 1990 and have spread west to California and east to
Florida.

"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."

The venom in both sorts is the same, but Africanized bees will sting in
greater numbers leading to a toxic reaction in some cases. Experts recommend
seeking cover immediately to reduce the number of stings in a confrontation
with Africanized bees.