A time for bee vigilance

Dog’s death in swarm, and rise in seasonal activity, highlight risks

Andre Dodd pulled a chunk of honeycomb from a Boca Raton home’s wall, rattling the bees inside.

But he was prepared Thursday afternoon. Covered with a bee hat and gloves, he avoided stings and looked on as the angry insects poured out of the residence.

It’s a time of year when bees are swarming to find new sites for hives, resulting in an uptick in calls to Dodd and other pest-control professionals in South Florida. The threat of bees drew renewed attention this past week, when bees killed a dog in Boca Raton, reportedly stinging her more than 100 times.

Pest-control professionals are reminding the public to remain vigilant for the presence of hives in or around their homes.

People should “walk around their homes at least every two weeks. If you see bees and you’re sure you didn’t see bees there two weeks ago, you’ve caught it early enough for us to take care of the problem,” Dodd said. “Don’t try to take care of it yourself.”

The Boca Raton family whose dog, Delilah, died said a swarm of bees attacked her in their backyard

June 21.

They suspect the bees were the aggressive Africanized variety, which have been found through the years in South Florida.

But state officials haven’t confirmed that. They told the family they will schedule an inspection to further investigate.

A free-hanging “feral colony” was found on a tree on or about the property line between the family’s home and a neighbor’s, according to a letter from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. A comb from the colony fell, potentially leading to the bee attack on the dog.

Africanized honey bees are the descendants of a brood imported to South America by a Brazilian scientist in the 1950s, according to the University of Florida’s Entomology and Nematology Department. The species is known to be more aggressive and venomous than Florida’s European honey bees.

The invasive species made its South Florida debut in 2005. With a lack of effective eradication plans, officials projected they would only continue to spread.

In response, Florida has set up 500 bait hives throughout the state designed to intercept the invasive bees and study their reproduction.

Jeff Abbey, owner of the Boca-based pest control company JDA Trappers, said he’s also noticed an uptick in hive activity in South Florida.

While a typical week this time of year sees a few removal calls per day, lately he’s had to do six daily — some of which have been hives with bees of the Africanized variety.

“It usually dies off right now, but it has stayed crazy since March,” Abbey said. “I’ve never seen them this bad.”

And getting rid of those hives can come at a significant cost to homeowners. They can either risk getting attacked from removing hives themselves or dish out anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for a company to do it, depending on the hive’s location.

William Sklaroff, owner of the bee removal company Willie the Bee Man, said it’s possible Africanized bees weren’t the culprits that killed the dog. He said it is often difficult to tell the difference between them and more tame bees because they’re both physically similar.

“The only way that can be said is if they were to collect about 50 of those bees and sent them to the Department of Agriculture to get their DNA tested,” Sklaroff said. “Just because some can be aggressive doesn’t mean they’re Africanized.”

The recent Boca incident is also not the only death via a swarm of bees in South Florida. A man was killed by stings from Africanized bees in 2008 in Okeechobee County. In early summer 2013, swarms also killed one dog in West Park and another in Plantation.

The dog killed in Boca was a member of the family, said her owner Debbie Leonard.

The family never was sure what breed Delilah was. She may have been some type of Rottweiler, Leonard said. “We loved that dog so much,” Leonard said.

Rebecca Merwin, Leonard’s daughter, said she saw the bees attack Delilah. There were “just so many” bees, she said. “It was horrible for her, and it was horrible for us.”

AMY BETH BENNETT/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Andre Dodd pulls a chunk of honeycomb out of a wall Thursday where bees have built a hive in a home in Boca Raton.

FAMILY PHOTO/COURTESY Debbie Leonard and her daughter Rebecca Merwin lost their beloved Delilah to the bees.

JIM RASSOL/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Debbie Leonard and her daughter Rebecca Merwin lost their dog, Delilah, after she was attacked and killed by a swarm of bees. There were “so many” bees, says Merwin, who saw the attack. “It was horrible for her, and it was horrible for us.”

AMY BETH BENNETT/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Bees pour out of a hole in a wall where they had built a hive in a home in Boca Raton on Thursday.