Visitors bee warned

Mathis Winkler

BALBOA PENINSULA -- About 20,000 unwelcome visitors came, hummed and

died at Newport Pier on Wednesday after police called an exterminator to

deal with a swarm of bees.

“These guys decided to settle on this trash can,” said David Marder of

Bee Busters, who helped a colleague spray the bees. “They were probably

trying to set up shop.”

Police officials said no human was hurt as a result of the invasion.

But because the insects could have been crossbreeds between relatively

harmless honeybees and African “killer” bees, Marder said he had no

choice but to kill them.

“You can’t tell whether it’s good bees or bad bees,” he said. “A DNA

test is the only way to figure it out.”

A subspecies of the African honeybee, the lethal insects were

accidentally released in Brazil in 1957 and have moved north at a speed

of about 200 to 300 miles per year since then.

While not more venomous than its European counterpart, killer bees

react more quickly and pursue their victims for a much longer time.

“They’re extremely volatile,” said Marder, adding that unseasonably

warm weather was partly to blame for the bees’ visit. “They sting

everything in sight.”

Residents who discover bee swarms should leave them alone and wait for

about 24 hours to see if the bees move on by themselves before calling an

exterminator, Marder said.

Similar invasions had taken place in the past, said Sgt. Steve

Shulman, a Newport Beach police spokesman.

He added that the department’s animal control officers usually inspect

the scene before calling a professional exterminator.

Unless bee swarms on private property seem to present a threat to

residents, the department only takes care of the removal of invasions on

public property, Shulman said.