A local beekeeper yesterday advised residents in the capital to take proper care of the boxing on their homes, as it will prevent bees from forming hives.
Barry Forbes said, “If you have at least one eighth on an inch open in your boxing that leaves room for them to scout and to get there.”
In the wake of last week’s bee attack, which left and an 82-year-old man dead in Grand Bahama, Mr. Forbes said he has suspected that bees in the country are Africanized, considering their aggressive behavior.
He said, “When I look at that situation in Freeport, they were agitated. I mean any bee can pretty much kill you, but the amount of bees that killed that man leads me to believe that they are definitely African Killer Bees.”
Bahamas National Trust (BNT) Executive Director Eric Carey told The Bahama Journal that while aggressive behavior in bees is rare in the capital, he suggests contacting the Department of Agriculture if someone encounters a swarm.
He said, “The bees in Grand Bahama are displaying a type of behavior that is very aggressive, which is usually not seen in the European traditional honey bee.”
Mr. Carey said BNT has been in touch with the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources, the Grand Bahama Port Authority and the Ministry of Environmental Health on the matter.
He added, “There is some speculation that there may be some form of hybridized Africanized bee.”
He also said BNT recommended that the government try and get some definitive analysis of the species involved in the attack because this is not the first occurrence on that island.
In fact, last month BNT issued a warning following an attack on a few of its team members conducting bird surveys in East Grand Bahama.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the number of deaths from hornet, wasp and bee stings have hit their highest totals since 2005.
The CDC reported that there were a total of 1,109 deaths from a hornet, wasp, or bee sting.
The totals amount to an average of 62 deaths each year.
However, in 2017, which was the latest year with data, there were 89 deaths and approximately 80 percent of deaths were among males.
