[log in to unmask] wrote in part

"Judging from the death of an animal (a dog) and the stings to multiple
people in the area, the first exterminator (not Bryant) did something wrong.
I would value the contributions of anyone who could advise on a more
skillful, less dangerous way to resolve the situation as presented in the LA
Times in the timeframe of one afternoon.

Here goes my observations:
1) He/she apparently did not take the time to diagnose what kind of insect he
was dealing with. If he had, he would have blocked all exits to prevent
exactly what happened.
2) He/she sprayed pesticide during the day, which meant that many bees would
be out in the field unaffected by the spray. A hazardous situation would be
created for at least the next few days."


I suggest a couple of things.  First there may well be important parts of this story not printed in the newspaper account without which it is impossible to make a reasonable judgement of what actually happened.  Having said that it appears to me that the exterminator botched the job entirely and probably was directly responsible for the entire stinging incident.  The extreme defensive "flare up " behavior of the bees is a common response by many insects to certain insecticides.  Many beekeepers have experienced the extreme defensive behavior of colonies following exposure to some insecticide sprays and can probably even list materials that will cause this kind of response.  There are also insecticides that are specifically formulated to avoid this kind of response by the insects which could have prevented this disaster.  The further observation is of course that employing a beekeeper to assist with the removal of the colony either by trapping or direct transfer while more costly would almost certainly have prevented this whole sad incident.  Nowhere in the article was there any mention that the insecticide could have caused this behavior in the bees or that there were other options for dealing with honey bees in this type of situation.

blane



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Blane White
MN Dept of Agriculture
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