Killer Bees Kill Again

That is terrifying and sounds almost like science fiction.

As someone who's considering moving to the desert, how do you avoid these swarms? (sounds like these guys were landscapers and disturbed a hive - is that always the case, though, or are there swarms roaming around looking for trouble?)

Sounds bad but people may need beekeeper suits or at least first responders. From the article...


Seven firefighters were hurt or stung while responding to this emergency, according to DHFD Capt. Jon Graves. “Even though we were wearing turnouts and a face shroud and helmets, bees were still attacking us as we were trying to remove the victim,” Graves said.

"Even with gloves, I was stung several times," he said. "I don't know how they got into my gloves but they did."

You posted about this just before my hike in the Superstitions in February which got my attention as it's not something I normally have to think about. Until then I was more worried about accidentally stepping on rattle snake. Neither happened and it happened to be one of the best hikes I've even done. Even if it was a little more grueling.

I had to read up through the thread to be sure you're talking about Africanized bees. And you indicated you were. I can see from the article how important it is to not allow their hives on your property. Both incidents in this thread appear to be connected to huge hives that were allowed to grow on peoples houses.

Clearly the problem is real in your area and in much of the country. I found this map of Africanized bee range in the USA.

In my area Africanized bees may be visitors, but European bees are dominant. And wasps are far more prevalent. Every autumn I find hundreds crawling the inside of windows in my garage, but they are easy to kill with mild houseplant insecticide. I open the window and release as many as will escape. Otherwise they get sprayed. I don't wear any special gear, and none have stung me yet. I suppose this is another situation where warming temperatures may alter our local environment.

We had boxes in the garage, and last week my husband opened one without thinking, looking for a tool we rarely use, and disturbed a hornets nest. He got sr
Ting once on the thumb and three times under his shirt. I thought that was bad but lucky compared to my boy who got his foot stuck in a redwood stump and had 15 stings under his clothes back in second grade. We have been told to keep a blanket on the ride on mower in case we hit a ground nest but those are the worst cases I’ve seen and none were Africanized. We do get regularly bothered if we try to eat meat on picnics around here, to the point that they will stay on a steak under a running faucet. But I’ve never forgotten that Kepler Bee movie and the fear lingers.

Now you're reminding me of a solo BP trip in WV many years ago. I was hiking across a large meadow and heard something rapidly approaching. Sounded like car tires on a highway, so at first it really didn't register. In just a matter of seconds I realized - wait a minute, I'm not anywhere near a road, and this large swarm of bees (honey bees I assumed) wooshed over my head and disappeared. All of them following the queen to wherever she was going.
It startled me, as I was alone and a long way from help, but that evening I realized what a treat that was!