Bob, Ron, and Dennis all suggested an idea regarding africanized bees that 
just doesn’t make sense to me.  The fact that I’m about to take issue with 
all three of them/you, makes me wonder if I’m not about to display my grand 
stupidity, but here goes.  Bob talked about warnings (Jan 3, AHB takeovers 
& beekeeping pest history) and then asked, “Why the panic now?”  Ron 
said, “we must do everything in our power to limit or prevent the spread of 
these bees.”  Dennis said, “Beekeepers who understand the problem, can be 
the first line of defense for the general public.  These beekeepers could 
be seen as protecting public safety.”

What doesn’t make sense to me in all these comments is the idea that some 
of us beekeepers can really do anything about the threat that “killer bees” 
(whether they’re real or partly real or not) pose to beekeeping.  I agree 
with what Ron went on to say, that “everyone has to take some 
responsibility for this and change the way we keep bees.”  But that’s 
exactly the catch: EVERYONE isn’t going to take responsibility.  So, 
assuming the threat is real, what do we do?  Recognize that irresponsible 
beekeeping is going to lead to horrible scenarios X, Y, and Z?  Or get rid 
of bees and beekeeping in one way or another?

Obviously, as a beekeeper, I don’t want to get rid of beekeeping, but what 
does everyone else care?  Why wouldn’t a state like North Carolina 
eliminate beekeeping?  Arguments purportedly based on “public health” have 
already eliminated all the thousands of small dairies from NC.  Why not 
beekeeping?  Isn’t corn syrup safer for public health than bee attacks?  
And if for some strange reason we want to have honey as part of the modern 
American diet, we can import it.

It certainly seems conceivable that the spread of africanized bees could 
have been slowed, but if their presence has already been confirmed in 
instances as far as New England, and if another year of spreading has 
already begun, then it seems to me we’re too late to stop the spread.  At 
this point, it seems it’s just a matter of AHBs settling in wherever they 
have the ability to settle in.  And it doesn’t seem like it would take much 
critical mass to take down the whole system.  A strongly perceived threat 
is all it takes, right?  What would happen if the media really got a hold 
of a single deadly stinging incident in New York, for instance?  Would that 
not be the end of all or most beekeeping in North Carolina?

I’ve avoided talking about pollination so far.  Similar to Ron, I’m not 
sure North Carolinians care enough about almonds.  And even if they did, by 
the time we paid for all the extra precautions that would be demanded, 
wouldn’t that high price make some kind of alternative possible?  Like 
Australian packages?  Or some otherwise less efficient species of bee?  
Raise the price of pollination high enough, and starving artists will offer 
to pollinate your almond trees with their paint brushes.  In any case, 
beekeepers like me (in a rural county with houses every quarter to half 
mile on average) can be regulated away without seriously jeopardizing the 
pollination business, right?  (Not to mention suburban beekeepers, etc.)

So, to get back to where I started, aren’t beekeepers more of a threat than 
a potential first line of defense?  (Are my bees going to attract 
africanized usurpations?)  If my area is subject to permanent 
africanization, is there anything about the problem that I can do if my 
neighbors are simultaneously importing africanized bees?  It just seems too 
easy for the few to spoil the whole lot for the many, and that’s assuming 
that the bee-havers aren’t themselves “the many.”

Eric

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