Countywide : ‘Killer Bee’ Team of Advisers Considered

County officials said Thursday that they are studying possible formation of an advisory team that would help bolster public awareness about the anticipated arrival next year of Africanized honeybees, commonly known as “killer bees,” officials said Thursday.

The team would be composed of representatives from various county agencies, which have already been working on public education about the bees so people won’t panic when they migrate to the area, said Stephen R. Hill, deputy agricultural commissioner.

Hill said the formation of the team has not been made official and would need approval by the County Board of Supervisors.

If the Orange County Africanized Honeybee Technical Advisory Team is formed, Hill said its members could include representatives from the county’s Health Care Agency, Environmental Management Agency, Fire Department, Vector Control District and Department of Education.

Hill said representatives from these county agencies have been informally meeting for about two years and arranged a one-day symposium in April in Buena Park to educate and raise awareness about the Africanized honeybees.

About 170 people attended the symposium, representing counties, cities, pest control companies, schools and beekeepers. The bees have been migrating northward from Brazil since their escape from a beekeeper in 1957.

Gilbert L. Challet, manager of the Orange County Vector Control District, said he believes that it is “very important that the county gives (its) employees official designation to work on this.”

He said they are no more venomous than other bees. “The thing that makes them more dangerous is their defensiveness of their hives” that can result in more stings, he said.