Angry bees' attacks in neighborhood set off by beekeeper

CONCORD – The Concord beekeeper who set off an attack by a swarm of suspected "killer bees'' over the weekend was an experienced hobbyist who had the beehives for 15 years and didn't notice anything amiss with his honeybees until he tried to move the hives so his father could do some backyard landscaping.

Nothing was out of the ordinary when Arthur Janke, 41, moved the first hive on Friday. But when he tried to move the second one, those bees went berserk, stinging him despite his bee suit, attacking his parents and rampaging out into the neighborhood around Hitchcock Road, stinging neighbors, passersby, a mail carrier and pets. Two dogs that were repeatedly stung were killed.

The terrifying incident comes months after scientists confirmed that Africanized killer bees had migrated from Southern California and were in the Bay Area, at the edge of Briones Regional Park. If DNA tests confirm that the insects are Africanized bees, the incident would be the first known attack in the Bay Area of the invasive species, whose ominous movements northward have been documented for decades.

Northern Californians living in warmer areas would also be faced with a new reality: This could happen in your neighborhood, park or campground, and experts say people need to know what to do if they encounter the dangerous bees.

"I've never seen a behavior like that,'' said Alex Janke, whose son has kept bees for 15 years. "There was a big swarm and they were trying to sting everything. Arthur tried to move as many as he could back in the hive, but there was still a cloud of bees in the backyard. They were all over.''

The pugnacious bees spread out along Hitchcock, near Cowell Road and Treat Boulevard, attacking pedestrians, swirling around cars and harassing police officers who arrived to help.

Mike Malley, who lives across the street from the Jankes, said he got stung about 16 times on his face and arms on Friday.

"I could hear the mail lady screaming from my house,'' Malley said. "She took off screaming and ran down the road. Two guys in a pickup truck stopped to help her, and the bees attacked them. So they ran the other way and left their pickup idling for about two hours.''

Malley said he tried to help the postal worker, who was "was covered in bees.''

"A jogger came by, got swarmed by bees,'' he said. "He made a helicopter out of his shirt and was swatting to get them away.''

Alex Janke said he was stung a dozen times on the arms and face during the first wave of attacks. His neighbors found their two dachshunds, Milo and Gunner, covered with bee stings in the backyard when they returned home that night. A veterinarian found at least 50 stingers in their bodies, authorities and neighbors said. The dogs died.

The furious onslaught continued Saturday and Sunday in the well-kept neighborhood of one- and two-story houses, and very few people were venturing outside. Play structures, basketball hoops, decks, gardens and other features of suburban life stood empty.

The bees, however, buzzed around people's heads and stung those who stepped out of their cars, including several reporters. The bees circled a vehicle of one fleeing driver Sunday, apparently waiting for the person to emerge.

Arthur Janke moved the hives Friday to a ranch the family owns in Clayton and on Saturday sprayed them with warm, soapy water when they clustered into a ball for the night, a recommended technique for killing them.

The strategy didn't immediately work, because many bees remained in Concord.

"These were all bees that were left behind,'' said Norman Lott, a beekeeper with the Mount Diablo Beekeepers Association, who got stung when he tried to help. "The bees had no central point to focus on, so they spread all over the neighborhood. They're agitated, out protecting their territory.''

The Jankes were still struggling Sunday to get rid of the bees as members of the Mount Diablo Beekeepers Association collected samples to submit for DNA testing.

The swarming bees may be an indication that the species is more widespread than previously thought. Lott said the killer bees can move into an area and form hives of their own, usurp a honeybee hive or have drones mate with a honeybee queen, forming a mixed race of bees.

Lott said the bees in this case apparently killed the honeybee queen and took over the hive, unbeknownst to the beekeeper. When the hive was moved, he said, they went berserk.

The stinging insects had calmed down a bit by Sunday evening, but the streets were still quiet. A community alert was still in effect and police were patrolling the area warning passerby about the danger.

"I suspect our neighbors are staying in their houses,'' Alex Janke said. "However there are just a few bees left in my backyard, and they'll be out of the neighborhood in the next couple days.''

Judy Weatherly, president of the Mount Diablo Beekeepers Association, said the bee attack should prompt the state and county to track Africanized bees, which can be controlled genetically by hive keepers.

"There are hives everywhere out there. We just don't see them because they aren't aggressive,'' Weatherly said. "We need to catch more bees, assess their behavior and destroy those aggressive hives. We want to eliminate those genetics so it doesn't become an issue in Northern California.''

[Good luck with that, they've been around for decades]

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