Ranger, TX - EASTLAND COUNTY QUARANTINED FOR AFRICANIZED HONEY BEES

  Eastland County was added Friday to the state quarantine,
restricting the movement of commercial bee operations  following the
detection of Africanized honey bees. The addition makes 141 counties
in Texas now quarantined for Africanized honey bees, according to
Paul Jackson,  chief inspector for the Texas Apiary Inspection
Service, a unit of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. The
quarantine allows beekeepers to move beehives within, but not out of,
the zone in an effort to prevent assisting  the spread.

(Kathleen Phillips,  Texas A&M Agriculture News, 6/10/02).


El Campo, TX- DEADLY BEES WERE HYBRIDS

  Researchers at Texas A&M University have determined the bees that
killed an El Campo woman Sunday are an  Africanized European hybrid.
Paul Jackson, head of the apiary inspection service at A&M, was in El
Campo Tuesday to collect samples of the  bees.  According to Jackson,
hybridization can occur in two ways, with the majority of the genes
coming either from the  European or the Africanized bee. In the case
of Sunday's stinging, the bees were found to have more Africanized
characteristics than European. "It's not often we get something like
that," Jackson said.

(Jason Gibbs, The El Campo Leader-News, 6/5/02).



Tucson, AZ - DROUGHT IS MAKING AFRICANIZED BEES EVEN MORE DANGEROUS

  Just one bee sting is bad enough but the Africanized bee has a
dangerous dedication to strength in numbers---and  the drought has
made them concentrate in bigger, more dangerous hives. The dry winter
killed off smaller, more vulnerable swarms. The big ones that
survived are flying farther to find food  and fighting harder to
protect it. "When forage and water are scarce they will branch
out---as far as six miles in some cases," says Tip Tisdale of  AAA
Africanized Bee Removal, "So we're seeing a lot more in terms of
possessiveness of certain areas than we  have before." If you already
have a bee colony too close for comfort you need expert help to
remove the threat.  Water hoses, gasoline, and do it yourself
pesticides may only aggravate the bees and stir up an attack.

(Craig Smith,  KGUN TV-9 News Tucson, 5/24/02).

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Peter Borst <[log in to unmask]>