> It appears that you believe that all feral 
> stock in Los Angeles is "AHB"

I merely cited the evidence-based findings of the responsible authorities,
and several recent media reports from the LA area.
They make some pretty firm statements, for example:

http://acwm.lacounty.gov/scripts/ahb.htm
"We declared Los Angeles [county and city] completely colonized in April
1999"

My concern is simple.  I spend quite a bit of my time, and a not
insignificant amount of my own money promoting and teaching RESPONSIBLE
urban beekeeping.  By "responsible", I mean that working bees in a tee shirt
is a good test for a hives' temperament as "acceptable stock" in an
urban/suburban setting.  It even gets down to the level of my student Mike
Barrett, who provides water for his bees, and has Mosquito Fish and Lilly
Pads in the water supply units so that the water supply reservoirs do not
become breeding grounds for mosquitos.  I am humbled by such a level of
concern for one's neighbors.

But I still get questions all the time about "AHB".  When the newly-elected
mayor of a city of over 9 million people walks away from a group of
deep-pockets donors to ask me "How are your bees doing, jim?", I have to
hold my breath and pray that he won't ask "What's up with that killer bees
incident I read about?" Like Blanche DuBois, we beekeepers "depend on the
kindness of strangers".

> This is a misconception held and promoted by 
> many in the east and Midwest who have no 
> first hand experience with ferals.

The "misconception" seems to also be held by every possible credentialed of
factual information about bees in CA.

> Like Eric Mussen, who has never once been 
> the keeper of a feral hive, the anecdotal 
> stories are numerous as they are specious.

It's not a good idea to think that Dr. Eric Mussen is anything but very,
very, very well-informed about every nuance of beekeeping you can imagine
and many you can't.  His newsletter is among the best sources of practical
information a beekeeper can use to improve his or her skills, and he has
been a go-to-guy for decades.  He'd be a hall-of-fame inductee, if we had
one. 

There's also Jerry Hayes, who dealt with AHB in Florida, and many other
responsible parties in the southern tier of states who are doing the same.
Why do they all point out that Brazil and other South American countries
have had a few more decades to allow the AHB traits to become "diluted", and
that our USA mongrels are still "too hot"?

> But if our bees were really as these "authorities" 
> report, why are we not hearing stories every day 
> about people getting chased and injured by 
> swarms of raging AHBs?

We are!  Query "Google News", for example.  There's a consistent few hundred
stories per quarter. But the story has lost its shock value, so it is the
fodder of the local papers, and the weekly "shoppers".

> If you had taken the time to read this article 
> you would have seen this: "it's nearly impossible 
> to put a number on the deaths. It's minuscule.

Ummm, I think I know a little about that subject.
See my "Bee Culture" article from 2005, "Oh Death, Where is Thy Sting?"
http://bee-quick.com/reprints/stingdeath.pdf
While I agree that the odds are miniscule of humans who are neither old nor
infirm actually dying from an AHB attack, I would like to point out that
Canada has a three times lower death rate from stinging insects than USA,
and the only stinging insect we have that they don't is AHB.  Regardless,
death rates is not an appropriate metric here, non-fatal stinging incidents
are bad enough to make urban beekeeping seem "risky" nationwide.

> Wearing protective clothing to work feral bees 
> is a small price to pay for a stock that is hardy 
> and locally adapted.

But how does one afford full bee suits for all one's neighbors, and convince
them that your hobby is worth them wearing such a get-up when they want to
barbeque on a day when you want to work your bees? 

But seriously, where do you get your liability insurance for all this?  I'd
really like to know.

>> The Backwards Beekeepers' Official 
>> Position Statement (circa 2010):

> There was never anything official about the BBK. 
> Except that it was officially Unofficial.

So which parts of what they say do you disavow, and with which parts are you
in agreement?

If every swarm was promptly requeened, I could be a supporter of the effort
as an honest attempt to further dilute the local scutella genetics with
pedigree genetics.  But the claim seems to be that the scutella genetics are
"superior", which seems to me like the attempts of the "Weyland-Yutani
Corporation" to profiteer from the superior genetics of the Aliens from the
"Aliens" movie series starring Sigourney Weaver.  And we all know how those
movies go.


	



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