>Brian writes:
>> You poo poo any ideas of  restrictions so what's your solution then?

OK, real world situation: migratory beekeeper loses most of his bees, moves
down to Arizona, Texas, or Florida, and decides it is cheap and easy to
restock with wild swarms from the woods, knowing that these are probably
African. What do we, up here in the North, do about it? Close the state
borders to bees from out of state? I don't think so, since this would ruin
the business of countless other beekeepers who are not keeping African bees.

Here's what I would do: Launch a campaign to educate the public about wild
swarms. Many times I have heard people say that honey bees are protected,
exterminators aren't supposed to kill them, etc. Untrue. Bees don't belong
in your walls or attic and the quickest and cheapest way to deal with them
is to spray now. I have heard of people charging 300 to 500 dollars to
remove bees from walls, when 5 bucks worth of insecticide would work. 

Educate the beekeepers. While I support their right to move about the
country and into communities, the communities have rights too. Bringing
African bees into a safe area is irresponsible and stupid, and can lead to
anti-beekeeping ordinances in towns. Beekeepers have the public eye right
now and a lot of support. But that could evaporate over night, if the public
thinks they are moving African bees from other states right into their
neighborhoods. 

Finally, fines for violators. Right now, in NYS if a beekeeper moves 25
African colonies in with 2500 hives, probably nobody will even find out,
since bee inspection is understaffed and sporadic. If an inspector does find
one, all he can do is compel the beekeeper to kill it. I had a beekeeper
tell me point blank that they don't kill them, "bees are too valuable these
days". If they think they are going to get fined, or if the public is going
to ban beekeeping in rural towns, maybe they'll smarten up.

pb

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