More Africanized bees found in southern Utah

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- About 100 colonies of Africanized honey bees have been found in southern Utah in the year since the bees' arrival was announced. Scientists now are developing models based on climate data and satellite images to predict whether the bees might eventually spread to other parts of the state.

The latest finds don't necessarily mean the bees are spreading rapidly, said Danielle Downey, bee program coordinator for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food. More than likely, the increase is mostly because crews are looking harder for the bees and getting more reports from citizens.

Hives have been spotted in trees, the eaves of houses, abandoned grain silos and even broken-down farm equipment.

"I think they've been here for several years already," Downey said. "I'm guessing they've been under the radar."

That changed in February 2009, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed seven hives of Africanized bees, which are sometimes called "killer bees."

The development was expected by entomologists who had watched the bees move across the South and Southwest. Still, among citizens, it raised eyebrows from some worried the bees might spread quickly and hurt people, pets and livestock.

So far, though, the bees have been found in just three Utah counties -- Iron, Washington and Kane -- and Downey knows of only one man who was attacked in the state. He survived multiple stings.

Hives that show up in urban areas like St. George and Cedar City are often dealt with quickly. Elsewhere, such as the rural Iron County area known as Beryl Junction, the bees have thrived by finding little-used structures to hole up and survive the winter.

"Probably the biggest reason they've done well is because there are a lot of abandoned structures and equipment in that area that no one is really accountable for," Downey said.

In Utah, agriculture officials are watching to see if the bees might eventually move north.

The officials will get help from federal scientists who are merging satellite images with climate and vegetation data -- especially for nectar-producing plants -- in the hopes of predicting areas where Africanized bees are likely to show up next.

"Utah is of great interest because it's right on the border" of where Africanized bees might be expected, said Wayne Esaias, a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

While Africanized bees can show up nearly anywhere in the summer after hitching a ride with others bees being transported, the question is whether they'll find suitable conditions to survive the winter and form a wild population, he said.

The models aren't developed enough to make any solid predictions, though there's suspicion that other parts of Utah could be suitable for Africanized bees. Still, researchers hope the models will eventually give state officials an early warning so they can prepare ahead of the bees' arrival.

Africanized bees are the result of interbreeding between European honey bees and bees from Africa. They were inadvertently released in Brazil in the 1950s. They were first spotted in Texas in 1990 and have since been found in several other states, including California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada.

Although Africanized bees look like European honey bees, they tend to get irritated faster, respond with more firepower and stay mad longer than other bees. Their stings aren't more dangerous than other bees but they can be more aggressive.

Africanized bees also leave their colonies to start new nests more frequently that European bees.

State officials caution, though, against an all-out war against bees in Utah, whose state emblem is the beehive.

Honey bees that pollinate fruit, vegetables and crops remain an important part of Utah's $1.5 billion agriculture economy, according to state officials.

They urge homeowners, farmers and ranchers to learn more about how to deal with Africanized bees without jeopardizing their European cousins.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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