Wednesday September 26, 2001

Beehive removal shuts down sidewalks on campus

A single beechwood tree housing the hives of 150,000 Africanized bees was removed from the campus vicinity yesterday afternoon. The tree was located in the "greenbelt" area bordering North Park Avenue between North Campus Drive and University Drive.

The grounds division of Facilities Management closed the sidewalk bordering the greenbelt as a precautionary measure while the bee removal took place. Facilities Management officials said there were three or four hives total.

Ron Underhill, grounds assistant supervisor for Facilities Management, said the situation was relatively safe but that the tree had to be removed to prevent other bees from moving into the abandoned hive.

In rare cases, Africanized bees - sometimes known as killer bees - have been known to attack or kill people incapable of escaping into a building or car.

Africanized bee attacks have only occurred only three times in Arizona, and very few people in Tucson have suffered more than a few stings, said Steven Thoenes of BeeMaster Inc., who helped remove the hive.

He said in the event of an Africanized bee attack, people should run to the nearest building or car.

However, Thoenes said, there are relatively few serious cases of bee stings because unless a person has allergies, he or she can withstand anywhere from 500 to 1,500 stings.

A BeeMaster employee treated portions of the tree containing hives while Facilities Management workers removed those portions from the tree.

"The tree was hollow, top to bottom," Underhill said.

"Treating" a hive is destroying the bees inside, Underhill said. He said they use soapy water to destroy the bees rather than pesticide because pesticide attacks the bees' nervous systems, agitating them and making them dangerous. Underhill said soapy water simply obstructs their breathing, suffocating them almost instantly.

Africanized bees comprise 98 percent of Tucson's wild bee population.

In addition, Africanized bees have a reproductive rate 10 to 11 times that of European bees.

Africanized bees attack more frequently than most species of bees, but they are defensive, not aggressive.

The difference is that while Africanized bees will defend their hive, they do not hunt, as the word "aggression" implies.

BeeMaster will check the UA for beehives as the semester continues. Thoenes said there is a larger bee problem at the Universty of Arizona because there is so much mature vegetation.