>>>  writer ...  is located in the northeast US.  I have an unbelievably aggressive colony.  They were a package from (the southeast) last spring .....

Now we come to the cavet "Let the buyer beware".   Was the supplier of this package contacted with a report about the package?  Was the supplier located in an AHB area of Florida?  If outside known areas of AHB habitation, was the state apiarist informed so as to do an examination of the sources of the package to determine if the AHB has expanded outside of its known areas of habitation?  Now an important question:  "What is our responsibility to other beekeepers and to the package producer?"   Do we inform the world at large that this particular producer might have a problem with AHB.  That would just about kill his/her package operation.  Do we give that producer the opportunity to clean up his/her operation?  There are a lot of heavy weight considerations here to ponder, and a responsibility to all involved, including future customers of this producer.  I would hate to have purchased a package from the producer and inadvertently introduce
 AHB genetics into my AHB free area through the negligence of the package producer.

All of the above, IMHO, are things that need to be considered and acted on yesterday, if not the day before.  We need to be proactive here and not reactive, although that might be too late already. 

Mike in LA  (Lower Alabama and still AHB free)



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