" When a negative incident occurs the best plan is to correct the
> situation as quickly as possible."  YES
"  The best course of action was the one that was taken.  The "bad" bees
were
> destroyed."  UNBALANCED REACTION.

There was a problem.  A solution was needed.  There were two sides - health
of public v. health of bees.  So, a case for negotiation.   Start by
recognising the causes/strength/rights on BOTH sides - the bees may have
been bad tempered but they were provoked - the colony was located in an
inappropriate place - but the behaviour of the children was out of line and
symptomatic of ignorance of the benefit bees bring to food production and
the environment.  Then offer a concession provided the other side will also
offer a concession - so, WE will agree to removal of  these bees provided
the CITY agrees that not all bees are bad /some living space should be
available to bees.  We will remove these bees free if  the city will
designate a site where a replacement colony can be safely installed.  The
children could have got badly hurt thru their ignorance - we
will design an 'educative panel' to be displayed on the site where the
conony was attacked if the city will manufacture the board and also
publise the  co-operative outcome acheived between beekeepers and the city
to solve
this particular unforetunate incident.
Just  killing the bees gave in to dictatorship by the uninformed.  No
benefit to the future - but OK, yes, it saved trouble in the short term.
HOWEVER, when the root causes of problems are not tackled, the problems
reappear - and the precedent set on the first occassion makes it more
difficult
to get a banced solution next time round.  The public has learnt that all
they have to do to get bees removed is throw rocks at them and beekeepers
will take all the blame and retreat shamefacedly.

Ron Bogansky clearly has all the skills/experience to draft a 'negotiation
manual for beekeepers for use when bees are under attack in urban locations'
.  What
about it , Ron?

Robin Dartington

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