<Liz says:>
In todays's Indianapolis Star, in the light news sectioin, is a photo
of a beekeeper in Arizona apparently keeping killer bees.  In the
photo, 2 men are wearing protective suits, bee veils, and leather
gloves.  One is opening up the top of a hive, and a moderate number of
bees are crawling and flying around.  The caption reads, "Beekeeper
Reed Booth of Bisbee, Ariz., opens a hive of Africanized "killer" bees
at his Old Bisbee apiary.  He and partner Josh Krebs sell the killer
bees' honey and alos provide bee-removal service.  Up to 85 percent
of southeastern Arizona's bees may be the Africanized variety, consdiere
much fiercer than normal honeybees."
 
I didn't realize it was allowed to keep AHB.  Can this be true?
<end quotes>
 
   Hi Liz,
 
     Afro Bee's, sometimes called "killer bee's" have been around in
the wilds' of the west for many years, even before found in Brazil.
None of them have killed anyone or caused a problem, maybe because there
were so few, and they were not ID'ed to the public as being Afro.
 
     I kept bee's for five seasons on the high Sonoran desert, the
bees were bad tempered. They fit all the gory descriptions of the
dreaded "killer" bees. The 2nd season I brought in 500 queens from a
California breeder I knew had gentle stock. By the end of that season
they were no different from the local bees, maybe yellower in color.
The next year I brought in a semi load, (500+) hives right out of the
almonds that I had worked that season and the year before without a
veil. Within days they fit the mold of "killer" bees."  The apiaries
had been in place for 40 years and always had been very productive,
well kept, and aggressive. A local use queen rearing operation was in
place and used breeders from the best in the west as well as their own.
A close neighbor set up a commercial breeding station within a mile or
two and shipped thousands of queens out of the area for several years
without complaint.
 
     Since the time I left the boarder lands of Arizona, the swarms
within a mile or two of the apiaries I am talking about were determined
to be Afro bees. The beekeepers were told it would cost them as much as
$35.00 per hive to test the rest to see if they were Afro. They did what
any reasonable person who could would do... went to the legislature and
had "all" the bee laws repealed. There are no bee inspectors in Arizona
as far as I know, and any bee problems are in the state entomologists
realm and can only be dealt with by a licence pest control person.
 
     California has no laws outlawing "Afro" bees, we did just have a
law passed allowing for the training of persons who would be licensed
to control them. This early on training is open to beekeepers and is
given to them for "attending classes" at beekeeping meeting. Thats
the same way it works for pesticide permits, its pure bureaucratic
bull pucka, (in my humble experience), just another way of spending
taxes and collecting ever growing fees.
 
     There is one big reason why "Afro" or "killer" bees are causing
legislators to consider getting out "post haste" of the bee inspection
business. If a hive or yard, or bees that you inspected and represent
by your personal deceleration as a representative of any agency, injures
of heaven forbid kills someone within x number of days, who is
responsible if you said they were not African "killer" bees? If you
don't know the answer to this question it is only because it has not
been litigated yet, but I will give you a hint based on case law here in
California... it will be the one with the deep pockets that will have
the resources to avoid or delay paying, and that is not me, but my
insurance company will pay the first time, along with the agency who
performed any inspection.<G> This idea of "we did not know the gun was
loaded" will not save anyone just because he is doing what he was told
to. Agency's of the government have hyped the "killer" bees for so long
and continues to this day, that any defence by them in court, less then
we "nuc'ed them and they still stung the deceased", would fall on the
deaf ears of justice.
 
     Another reason for no laws on Afro Bees, that has a lot to do with
the above. They are feral or wild, and much law gives responsibility to
the state for all feral things, including much case law. Even honeybees
confined to your hive can become feral once they leave your hive and
much case law states that if you don't demonstrate ownership by followin
them they become the property of anyone who hives them. Arizona has
considered laws that would allow only licence pest control people to
hive any swarm. Don't know if they got very far with this one, but
expect that if the Tex-Mex (Afro) bees start on a serial murder spree
we will see some new laws.
 
     It is interesting to note that the only feral hive of bees found
in California and maybe the only one in all the America's that passed
every known test as being 100% African has lived in a tree on a golf
course adjacent to a ridings path for many years without a problem or
regards for any regulation. This and all other feral Afro type hives
found in California have not demonstrated any aggressive abnormal
behaviour to this date as far as I know or can find out.
 
     As far a beekeepers working "killer" bees in Arizona, I can
testify that if all you knew about killer bees is the descriptions
reported in the literature then all the bees I have seen in the boarder
lands of Arizona qualify, and I have been told years ago this zone of
aggressive bees extends into New Mexico by Jaycox whom I trust. As for
these yahoos' having Tex-Mex bees, I don't know, my guess they are
capitalizing on the hype. I do know that ever since the Mexican bees'
united with the Texas bees', that thousands of hives from some of the
same areas' in Texas have been moved to California for spring almond
pollination and have not been a problem, to date.
 
                         ttul Andy-