Letters

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MICHELE NORRIS, host:

A couple of minutes now for some buzz about bees. Last week we aired an interview with Jeanie Fox of Davie, Florida, who was trapped by bees that lived in her walls and zipped all around her home.

Ms. JEANIE FOX: There was 30 to 50,000. They said it was the largest beehive in Broward County. So we pretty much had to stay in the house.

NORRIS: Jeanie Fox told us that Willie the Bee Man did a pro bono bee removal for her at the request of the local authorities. And a few of you wrote to ask, what happened to the bees?

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Pax Bobrow(ph) of New Orleans wrote, honeybees have been experiencing a serious decline in recent years. I can only hope the bee man was, in fact, a beekeeper who gave the honeybees a productive and safe home.

NORRIS: Well, we called Willie the Bee Man, and his son, Roger Shoverone(ph), told us the bees might've been Africanized or killer bees. He said the state actually recommends exterminating wild bees.

Mr. ROGER SHOVERONE: Because if we save the bees and tried to bring them into another bee farm, the hybridized bee with the honey-producing aspects of European bees, mixed with the aggressive tendency of the Africanized is basically what they're worried about. So because of that we eliminate them.

NORRIS: We also checked with Florida's Department of Agriculture to ask if that's true. Jerry Hayes is chief of the apiary section. He says Florida is in transition to an Africanized population of bees.

Mr. JERRY HAYES (Apiary Chief, Florida Department of Agriculture): Africanized bees have been responsible for the death of a 900-pound horse of up to 18 dogs, goats and sheep, and unfortunately we had our first human fatality in Florida from a stinging incident by Africanized honeybees. So this is a public safety issue and it's also a protective issue for the beekeeping industry in Florida.

NORRIS: So an unfortunate conclusion to last week's bee story.

BLOCK: If you have a question about a story we air, you can send us an email. Go to NPR.org and click on Contact Us.

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