Africanized bees believed to be killers of LV dog

Jace Radke

Monday, Oct. 4, 1999 | 10:05 a.m.

Experts believe that Africanized honeybees, or killer bees, are responsible for stinging a 12-year-old girl several times and killing a Rottweiler Sunday morning.

"I shouldn't be saying so before they are properly tested, but these were definitely Africanized bees," said George Botta, general manager of American Pest Control and member of the Nevada State Board of Agriculture.

Botta was called by the Las Vegas Fire Department to a northwest Las Vegas neighborhood near Jones Boulevard and Smoke Ranch Road.

The bees had found their way into an old beehive box in Kristel Condo's back yard at 5830 Alfred Drive. Condo, 21, was getting her 2-year-old daughter ready for church at 10:30 a.m. when she heard her 12-year-old niece calling for help.

"The dogs were being loud, and I sent my niece out back to quiet them down," Condo, 21, said. "There were bees all over attacking the dogs. My niece started spraying the bees with a hose, but then they went after her.

"She was trying to save the dogs."

One of the two Rottweilers, Emmitt, was able to escape the bees, but Dallas was tied to a tree and died from hundreds of bee stings, Botta said.

Condo's niece was stung several times but made it back to the house where she jumped into the shower to wash away any bees stuck in her hair and clothing.

"These bees have the aggressive tendencies of Africanized bees," Botta said. "If these had been European bees, I could have approached them with minimal protection, but as soon as I went in the back yard they were covering my protective suit."

Botta believes that as many as 10,000 Africanized bees took over the old beehive that Condo says hasn't been used in 10 or 15 years.

"The owners may not have been using the box, but there were some active bees still there because the bottom cases were heavy with honey," Botta said. "That's probably what attracted the Africanized bees to come in and take over the colony."

When firefighters first arrived on the scene about 10:45 a.m., they sprayed the swarming bees with foam, closed off Alfred to traffic and told neighbors to stay inside.

Samples of the bees will be taken to the Department of Agriculture where they will be tested to see if Botta's suspicions about them being killer bees are correct.

Africanized honeybees were created in Brazil by scientists who were conducting a breeding experiment to increase honey production. Some of the bees escaped and began mating with European honeybees as they migrated north.

The Africanized bee is nearly identical in size and shape to its European cousin, but are much more aggressive and tend to swarm, creating the possibility of hundreds of stings in a matter of minutes.

The bees reached Texas by 1990, and the first reported contact in Southern Nevada came last year in Laughlin. The bees have also come into contact with people in Boulder City.

"We go out on a lot of calls and the percentage that turn out to be Africanized honeybees are increasing," Botta said. "Saturday morning I was at a vacant house in Green Valley where there was a hive of at least 10,000 bees.

"Samples from that hive will also be tested, but they also acted like Africanized bees."