'Killer' bees found in Cedar City home

Oral Covington laughs at the luck he and his wife have had in not being stung by the so-called "killer" Africanized honeybees that had moved into his attic area, even though he has climbed the ladder at his Cedar City home to spray insecticide on them.

To the Covingtons, the bees just looked like black and yellow European honeybees they've seen all their lives. They never worried about their new neighbors. They were so lackadaisical that Covington doesn't even remember exactly when he first spotted bees swarming around his house's eaves.

"We've had some for several years," he said. "I don't know how long."

State agriculture officials have announced that the bees are farther north than they had originally thought in February, when the bees were spotted for the first time in five hives in Washington and Kane counties. And it's possible — although unlikely — that the bees could have traveled even farther north, closer to the state's urban centers, they said.

"We don't expect them to come up this far," Utah Department of Agriculture & Food spokesman Larry Lewis said, referring to the Wasatch Front. "But under certain conditions, I guess it is possible."

Africanized bees aren't able to survive Utah's winters, but they did at the Covington's home because they were in the attic area, insulated from the cold. The Department of Agriculture estimates the colony had taken up residence at the Covington's two to three years ago.

"The bees that are up under the eaves of our house, when it's cold, they don't come out," Covington said. "But as the day warms up, they come out. And there's thousands."

This year, the swarms of bees began to perturb Covington.

"It was getting worse and worse," he said. "I finally called the (Utah State University) extension agent and asked him what to do to get rid of them. He said, 'Use some Sevin.' I sprayed it on, but it hasn't worked."

The extension office, concerned that the Africanized bees were only 50 miles away, contacted state agriculture officials. The Africanized bees can be deadly "under the right circumstances," Lewis said.

"They are more aggressive than the European honey bee," he said. "Each individual African bee, their venom is no more potent than the European honey bee. It's just that the hive is very defensive and attacks en masse."