3rd Swarm of Africanized Bees Found

LOST HILLS, Calif. — State experts have found another swarm of Africanized honeybees in Kern County--the third discovery of the fiercely aggressive insects in the Central Valley, the Department of Food and Agriculture reported Wednesday.

Tests of a swarm of wild bees destroyed by the experts found Africanized bees, spokeswoman Jan Wessell said.

She said the bees were nesting in a tree stump about seven miles southwest of where an earlier discovery of Africanized bees was made in late June. A second discovery of the bees in the Lost Hills area was announced last week.

The latest find was made last Wednesday. Wessell said results of the bee tests were confirmed Wednesday by the U.S. Agriculture Department’s laboratory in Baton Rouge, La.

In a campaign aimed at preventing spread of the killer bees, state and federal experts have been destroying swarms of wild bees with insecticide in the Lost Hills area and have been checking 9,200 commercial colonies in the area for the insects.

Earlier Wednesday, department officials said new tests were ordered for the commercial apiary where the second discovery of Africanized bees occurred.

The bees have been dubbed “killer bees” because of their aggressive nature.