*Ripped off the sci.beekeeping.newsgroup for you that can't get it..
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BEEKEEPING IN THE NEWSPAPERS
What others are saying about beekeeping
The last few weeks several stories have popped up on the approach of the
so called KILLER BEES. You and I know that if you are killed by a truck
it really does not make much difference as to what breed it was, but
with bees its those nasty African bees who are going to get you...
I have already posted the story on the "killer" bees coming in to the
California & Hawaii sugar dock's, from Hawaii, I guess, that has no
history of African bees. Also how the spray job done on them was so bad
that the queen may have escaped and a search was on to find her.(BS)
Another "story" found in the San Diego, California UNION TRIBUNE, (you
must be a member to read this, the good news is it is free). Try this:
http://www.uniontrib.com/
Its a short one anyway and little detail is included but I know that the
University of California, and the Calif. Dept. of Agriculture has been
looking at all bees in the Coachella valley and this story is headlined,
KILLER BEES COLONIZE VALLEY....based on two bees captured at random
last April and DNA tests just confirmed they were AFRIKANER. I guess
they were still working on the OJ tests or something that it takes four
months to test two bees? Anyway the article goes on to say this evidence
combined with bee "contingents" found near the Salton Sea in September
1995 "indicate the entire Coachella Valley has been colonized" according
to his lordship, Cal Kaminskas, a county ass. agriculture commissar. I
think this was the same guy who says these "killer" bees are traveling
by train, but never explained why they got off half way to the end of
the track at the Canadian boarder in Washington state.
I translated all this activity in San Diego and Riverside County as
being a way out from what has been a very expensive experiment in
regulatory process and if continued would cost 100's of millions in
state costs and more in lost agriculture production if a real
quarantine was put in place as advertised. The science in all this
Africian bees stuff is so poor that legally it can not support a real
quarantine and all federal Afro bee efforts are soon to be stopped. I
wonder just what it takes to wake these people up to the fact that
honeybees do not respect political bounders like their keepers...
The TEXAS story continues.. I don't know how many counties there are in
this great state but now 89 have been quarantined for Africanized honey
bees. This story can be found in the LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL, 7-19-97,
and is on the web. Use NEWSWORKS and you will find it by searching for
Africanized or Killer bees.
The meat of this story is that the Africanized bees have moved farther
north in Texas then was planned for. Some of the BS (bee science) is
this story is way out, TEXAS tails I would guess, like "in the spring
the Africanized species divided its hive into as many as 14 units and
begins moving. That swarm is often no larger than a softball, Jackson
said." or how that "swarms four feed or closer to the ground.....Jackson
says, "because the swarm may be Africanized honey bees." Then he
continues, "The bees, however, also can go in trees or into the ground
as well as in water meters."
It was a busy week for the "killer" bees and their tails.
ttul, the OLd Drone
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(w)Opinions are not necessarily facts. Use at own risk.
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~ QMPro 1.53 ~ Vereniging tot Bevordering van de Bijenteelt
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~ QMPro 1.53 ~ "Where there are fruits & nuts, there are beekeepers"
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