http://www.cnn.com/NATURE/9904/08/killer.bees.reut/

CNN has a news item relating to the Official announcement of the
Killer Bee colonization of Los Angeles.

L.A. now officially colonized by killer bees

Africanized honey bees look just like regular honey bees


April 8, 1999
Web posted at: 5:39 p.m. EDT (2139 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- The city of fires, earthquakes and
mudslides has a new woe to contend with:
colonization by killer bees.

Los Angeles county's agriculture commissioner announced Thursday
that Africanized honeybees -- known
as "killer bees" because they have slain at least five people in
the United States -- have moved into the last
 killer bee-free zone in the sprawling 4,083-square mile county.

Commissioner Cato Fiksdal said the bees were recently found
lurking under the eaves of a building in the
suburb of Palmdale, which previously had no killer bees.

"As a result of the recent detection in Palmdale, we are
officially declaring that the entire county of Los Angeles
is now colonized by the bees," Fiksdal said.

"This particular colony was suspect and we sent the DNA to (be
tested) and they confirmed it."

Killer bees are no more venomous than normal bees but are
considerably more aggressive and thus
sting more readily.

Fiksdal said the declaration was made to alert residents to the
bees and "to let them know that they
should not try to remove or deal with a colony of feral bees on
their own. They should call for a professional."

The first swarms of Africanized honeybees were discovered in Los
Angeles county last December, Fiksdal said.
Some came via ship from Central America, while others migrated
from other parts of the country.

The surrounding Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside and
Imperial counties have already been colonized.

The bees' last known victim was a 72-year-old man in Casa Grande,
 Arizona, who was attacked and killed in his
mobile home in April 1997.

Fiksdal said anyone attacked by a swarm of killer bees should
cover his or her nose, mouth and eyes,
get into an enclosed area and call 911. Fiksdal advised against
going underwater because, he said,
the bees wait for their victim to resurface.

Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.