BAHA: bees are sweet but deadly

In the animal kingdom, they’re called social animals…but that doesn’t mean they’re friendly. Oh, no, no, no. Bees are social because they do things together: move as one, make honey as one, and yes, they attack as one. That’s a frightening reality a number of Belizeans have learnt over the years… and according to the Ministry of Agriculture, respecting those basic facts could mean the difference between life and death. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods reports.

Jacqueline Woods, Reporting

It takes about four cans of insecticide spray like Sheltox or Baygon to kill the bees…but as simple as the procedure may sound, the exercise can be deadly and only those persons trained to handle Africanised bees should take care of the problem.

Winfield Baptist, Bee Exterminator, Min. of Agriculture

“The bees are very aggressive when they have honey, that is the time they are most aggressive, and if you don’t have on a suit, the bees they can kill you. So when you make contact with the bees at your house, don’t try to spray the bees, just call us and we will try to provide as much service as we could.”

This is the time of the year when the bees are most active and on average, the Ministry of Agriculture receives as many as ten requests a week to eliminate swarms. This morning, agricultural technician, Winfield Baptist, headed out into the Belize District to respond to a call that came from one concerned resident of Maxboro in Sandhill Village. It is not certain how long the bees have been in the area, but the insects had taken up residence under the stump of this tree, one of the most difficult locations to reach and tackle the bees.

Winfield Baptist

“This morning’s hive, we have to spray and cork it up and then maybe we come back another time, because you find that sometimes the bees are in places where we cannot really get to the nest. What we do with bees is try to take out the nest from where the bees are and that is the only way we can get rid of the bees. Like in this condition here, the bees are in a way that we cannot dig under the ground to get out the bee and like that. So what we will do, spray the bee, cork up the hole and advise the person at the house to catch the post fire after when the bees, a day or two they get more scarce.”

Today sightings of the Africanised bees are rare as a new breed of bees, a cross between the Africanised bees and a less aggressive European variety. Baptist says it’s normal for anyone to want to brush away the bees immediately, but he explains the best defence is to remain calm and as still as possible.

Winfield Baptist

“If one bee bite you, it sends out some kind of signal that maybe tell the others to attack and they attack in the hundreds and what trigger them is noise, especially when they are established, when they have a lot of honey. Noise bother them, lights bother them. And if you have on a suit, that’s why I keep washing my suit, because if I deal with a honey like yesterday and I come here and they smell the honey, they will attack.”

Jacqueline Woods

“And if somebody’s attacked, what’s your advice to them, should they drop, run, what should they do?”

Winfield Baptist

“If you are attacked by one bee or two bee, it might not do you anything, but if you are attacked by twenty-five, a hundred bees, you have see the doctor. If you see a bee circling, it’s best not to brush too much because that irritates them.”

If you have a problem with bees, you are asked to call the Agricultural Department at telephone number 227-7492. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.

While the Ministry of Agriculture provides the service free of cost, the public is asked to contribute the cans of insecticide.