Posted on 03/19/2008 8:07:22 AM PDT by Cagey
STUART, Fla. -- A Florida County has declared war on killer bees.
Commissioners in Martin County have unanimously passed an ordinance allowing county employees to go onto private property without permission to kill Africanized bees and treat areas where mosquitoes are breeding.
The county's mosquito control administrator Gene Lemire said the county already responds to bee and mosquito complaints with the permission of property owners.
But he said they have had an increasing number of incidents in which property owners either cannot be found or are unwilling to clean up the infestation themselves.
Killer bees, which Lemire said have been moving into Martin County, are more aggressive than regular European honey bees and will chase people farther to sting them when a hive is disturbed.
THAT’S RACIST!!!!!....................
Seems to me that with the current honey bee problem the world is having... that Africanized bees are better than NO bees....
Aw, too bad. At first I thought it read “Ordnance” and I thought that could be really fun.
To BEE or NOT to BEE. THAT is the question..................
Having had Africanized bees set up housekeeping in some old tires in one of my old barns, and having been stung numerous times when trying to mow around these buggers, I respectfully disagree.
And I suppose the workers will leave a bill for their unrequested service.
Leaving aside the question of property rights, how will the county workers distinguish between Africanized bees and the usual honey bee varieties of Italian or Carnolian to name but two? It takes a lab test to make the distinction. You cannot tell if a honey bee is an Africanized bee just by looking at it. I suppose the only way would be to observe the bees to determine their aggression level but even native bees can get riled up for a time.
ping Thought you should see this.
Seems to me that with the current honey bee problem the world is having... that Africanized bees are better than NO bees....””
Think we might be comparing apples and oranges here.
Honey bees are regularly moved from one area of the country to another, following the weather and pollinating the various crops, from north to south, etc.
It is my understanding that the killer bees are so aggressive that one cannot move colonies and set them up in new places. Also, they don’t produce honey of a commercial quality nor quantity.
Introducing them to areas of the country that so far don’t have them would also be a disaster.
Sounds like the same response they had for the citrus canker. If you had a private citrus tree on your property and it was within 1900 feet of an identified and infected tree, workers would come on your property without your permission and totally destroy your tree, regardless of whether it was identified as having canker or not. Your government and big industry (citrus in this case) at your service...
> Seems to me that with the current honey bee problem the world is having... that Africanized bees are better than NO bees....
Amen !!
Respectfully disagree all you like.
The point here is that bees provide pollination to something close to 80% of our food products, in particular flowering plants and trees.
Without bees, we will still have some minor, natural pollination going on, but nothing like what bees do. The cost of foods, especially fruits will increase drastically, across the US and around the world, becoming more and more scarce as trees and plants die because they aren’t being pollinated.
Bees, are bees, and they all do the same job. Africanized bees are more hardy than European bees and they aren’t dying off like the normal bees you’re used to. The fact is that africanized bees will in time become more docile - and just need the time to do so. They still produce honey, and they still do the same job as other bees do.
I don’t have a problem with them being removed from human habitation, but I do have a problem with their extermination.
No, I’m not “comparing apples to oranges”. I’m comparing bees to bees.
The bee population on this entire planet has been afflicted by something - which scientists are so far at a loss to explain, causing mass dying of bees. Theories range from viruses and parasites to the weird (cellular phones causing it), even so, the phenomenon is occurring as we speak and billions of honey bees (the European type, which reside in the US) are dying at a very high rate.
This is a known problem. Africanized bees have not seemed to have been affected in the same way so far.
It is my belief at this point that whatever the issue is might not be reversed before all bees pretty much die off.
See my previous post for the ramifications of this problem - and I would urge people to investigate this before they start assuming that “africanized bees” are bad.
Also... I’m not sure where you got the idea they don’t produce “commercial grade honey” — ALL honey is “commercial grade” in that it can be used. Even so, AHB do produce less honey per hive, but they still produce honey, nonetheless.
The fact is that bee keepers can and do keep and control these bees.
Also note this article....
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/03/980331080426.htm
Honeybee populations, either because of fierce competition from Africanized honeybees or from species of mites they have no resistance to, are on the decline.
Native bees offer an alternative because they are resistant to both the varroa and tracheal mites. And because they do not live in hives, native bees are not at risk of being overcome by Africanized bees.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060306094707.htm
First they came for the Africanized bees....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.