Thaindian News

October 25, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): the Africanized honeybees have long been in known for their dangerous stinging powers. Recently a report has surfaced that a 73-year old man named Curtis Davis in Dougherty County was stung to death by these deadly ‘Killer’ honeybees last month. The Georgia Department of Agriculture performed a series of entomological tests to confirm that the Africanized honeybees were responsible for the incident.

This is the first time in the past few years that the state officials confirmed the existence of these killer bees in Georgia. In a recent news release, Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin said that the killer bees were responsible for the attack because they are extremely defensive about guarding their nest.

To confirm the entomological profile of the bees, Georgia agriculture officials sent samples to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the reports came out positive. The State Agriculture Department said that both African and European honeybees have the same potential in their venoms but Africanized bees are highly unpredictable in their behavior, which makes them more dangerous.

The killer bees usually respond faster when their hive is threatened by outsiders and they usually swarm their victims. A renowned bee farmer informed that while European bee colonies can produce as many as 60,000 to 80,000 bees each summer; the African variety produces half of that amount. The African bees are smaller and more aggressive than their European counterparts.

Meanwhile Tommy Irvin warned people of Georgia to stay away from bee swarms. Most importantly, he requested the civilians not to swat at the bees if they sting as that might make them more aggressive. Right now the State officials are trapping and monitoring bee swarms all over the state to find out the location of the other Africanized bee colonies.