Honeybees Kill Sand Springs Dog

The state agriculture department has conducted preliminary DNA testing of some bees that attacked and killed a dog in Sand Springs and determined they are only honeybees, NOT Africanized 'killer'

Wednesday, May 24th 2006, 10:34 am

By: News On 6

The state agriculture department has conducted preliminary DNA testing of some bees that attacked and killed a dog in Sand Springs and determined they are only honeybees, NOT Africanized 'killer' bees.

News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says state officials determined Wednesday afternoon, they were only European honeybees.

There had been concern over the possibility of 'killer' bees in Tulsa County. They are already in southwestern Oklahoma - and as close as McIntosh County.

Thomas Forbes is at the same time sorry his dog was killed by bees, and grateful it wasn't his little girl. His little girl plays in the backyard where the dog was when it was attacked. "It was scary I mean if my daughter she's 3 if she had been out there would have been nothing that could be done, I was scared to death."

Forbes says Monday evening he heard his dog yelping - he looked out and "stormy" was covered with bees. "Looked like a cloud of them, several hundred of them and the dog just had them all over her."

Forbes says the bees looked like honeybees, but thought they may have been Africanized 'killer' bees because of the way they attacked his dog. Even after his dog was sprayed with a hose and a fire extinguisher - he says the bees kept coming.

Africanized 'killer' bees and European honeybees are visually indistinguishable. It was the nature of the attack that got the attention of the state department of agriculture, which collected a sample of the bees for DNA testing.

State officials say DNA tests show the bees were European, although the tested bees will be sent to a lab in Arizona to rule out any possibility of African lineage.

Forbes says it appears the bees have moved on.

The state department of agriculture has a web page on the subject. To check it out, CLICK HERE.