Ministry Warns of Increased Killer Bee Activity in Toledo

The Ministry of Agriculture has registered an uptick in sightings and attacks of killer bees in Toledo District. This week, 59-year-old Japy Perez was stung to death whilst working on a farm in San Pedro Colombia Village. According to the ministry, Perez was attacked by a swarm of bees moving between communities. Since February, the ministry says it has received numerous reports of Africanized bees nesting in residential areas and moving between farms. The ministry says this time of year killer bees are known to swarm and increase their movement, prompting safety concerns. Denzel Castillo, the ministry’s Toledo Agricultural Coordinator, noted that while it cannot be contained or controlled, the ministry is working to keep the public safe from bee attacks. 

Denzel Castillo, Toledo Agricultural Coordinator: “This time of the year, there’s a lot of wild swarms. So we’ve been having calls all through all the dry weather and mostly from residential areas and the schools and that’s where we would focus our attention, mostly in the residential area and around the schools. And we have an officer in the district who is responsible for eradicating bees. And so whenever someone would call he would be deployed to that specific location and he would take care of the bees. However, in this specific case, we did not receive a call until the damage was done and it’s kind of unfortunate because,  well, even if we were there I think by the time we got there there’s not much that we could have done because the bees, the way these bees operate, it’s very unpredictable. We don’t know when they’re coming and we don’t know where they’re gonna swarm next. Well at the residential area the first thing you need to do is to call the agriculture department for us to come and see how we can move the bees. That’s in the situation where the bees are already there. However, with the ones that are swarming as I mentioned, those are unpredictable. We don’t know when they’re coming and we don’t know where they’re going next. So my advice would be to try to try whenever you’re in the forest you try to have someone along with you to try to look, you try to, you can also hear their sound. You know the bees have a humming sound that you can hear from a mile away. Once you hear that, you should know that bees are coming and you should find somewhere safe so you don’t get stung.”

Castillo noted that the ministry can be reached at 822-4197.