Hi Rodney,
Thanks for the welcome. I don't have any ill feelings towards beekeepers, or even towards bees for that matter. Having lived in Ca. for most of my life, I realize how absolutely essential bees are and how devastating it would be if there numbers continue to drop.
Actually, I still like bees, I just don't ignore them like I did in the past. If I see a number of them in my yard, I now investigate to see where they are coming to make sure that I don't have a hive on my property. The days of being unconcerned about their presence are over- at least for my family.
I just wanted to inform the forum members, that for my husband's story at least, Monsterquest's portrayal was very accurate. I can't speak for the rest of the show, but his part was true.
We didn't feel the purpose of the show was to frighten people into demanding that all bees be eradicated. As we all know, the Africanized bees are here to stay.
I do believe however that the show did serve a public purpose.
It is important for us to ask our county officials what they would do if a person were attacked. Are their local first responders ready? Do they have some sort of standard operating procedure in place? I know that here in Nevada, we weren't ready for it. The hospital was initially planning to send my husband home. Their initial prognosis was, because he didn't die, he must not be allergic, so he's good to go. Never mind the fact that he had just been injected with what was equivalent to poison. I pressed for them to admit him for observation.
To the hospital's astonishment, within hours of his being stung, his organs started to shut down one by one, and he had to be intubated. He was flown to Arizona via Life Flight because they at least had a team of toxicologists. (The whole state of Nevada doesn't even have one!)
The purpose for my husband agreeing to do the show was not to make people hate bees, but rather to warn people that they need to aware and for example, not let their child play in the yard if there are many bees present......and of course to make sure that the first responders have a plan.
I was told by several bee experts (and by experts, I don't mean exterminators:) that almost all of the bees in Nevada are now Africanized. I can't say if they are correct or not, but I know for a fact that the ones that attacked my husband were Africanized, and if they were truthful, the bees that Monsterquest sent from here for identification were classified as Africanized as well. Those were the facts, not hype, and the thought is alarming.
My purpose in my original post was not to blame but rather to inform the readers of how truly ferocious these bees were. My husband is extremely lucky to be alive. Times have changed, and these bees are different. To not believe those facts or to chalk it all up to hype, is irresponsible and quite possibly dangerous. Nobody is saying to not keep bees. Actually, I am thankful for beekeepers.
Just please use extra precaution, because no matter how long you have been keeping bees, until you have lived through or been witness to an actual massive attack, you can't really understand how dangerous they have the potential to be.