international news _ 6th March, 2006 _ JONTY SKRUFFF
Dave Seaman Dismisses Miami Killer Bee Threat
Text by Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
UK progressive type Dave Seaman has brushed off concerns over possible swarms of African killer bees disrupting Miami's upcoming annual Winter Music Conference, telling Skrufff this week he's totally unconcerned.
"I'm not going to be too worried about them, there are so many parties going on in Miami, what are the odds of the killer bees arriving at your party rather than somebody else's?" he pointed out, "I'll take my chances."
"I was stung by a bee once when I was 12 years old, I was running around and one flew into my mouth and stung me in my mouth, which wasn't particularly pleasant but I still haven't got much an aversion to bees," the brave British star added.
"Though my wife is absolutely petrified of them to the extent that she goes hysterical if one comes within a hundred yards of her. She's not coming to Miami with me anyway and definitely not if there are any killer bees anywhere near by."
Dave's comments came as officials as bee expert Professor Keith Delaplane from the University of Georgia chatted to the Houston Home Journal about the bees' characteristics which include an unusual propensity for the entire swarm to launch determined attacks.
"The Africanized honey bee's sting is no more venomous than the sting from a normal bee, there's nothing that makes its sting more potent, it's the number of stings that's really the problem," he explained, "they will virtually empty their colonies into the air."
Alarmingly the professor said the highly mobile killer bees can nest in old tyres or even abandoned cans of soup, though Florida Agriculture Department chief Jerry Hayes downplayed their threat, at least compared to some of Miami's other many hazards.
"We live in a state that has fire ants that actually kill people," Mr Hayes told the Sun Times, "We have scorpions and spiders and boa constrictors and all those scary things." (AP)
Renaissance: The Masters Series Volume 7- Dave Seaman is out on March 13.
Miami Killer Links:
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gilbert/research/fireants/faq.html ('How can I avoid being stung by fire ants? Being aware of your surroundings at all times is the way to avoid everything from car wrecks to rattlesnake bites. If fire ants do crawl onto your skin, they first bite with their mandibles in order to anchor for the thrust of the sting . . .')
http://pediatrics.med.miami.edu/FPIC/critters/critters.html (Poisonous "Critters" of Florida, includes black widow spiders)
http://www.floridanature.org/species.asp?species=Centruroides_gracilis (Florida Bark scorpions)
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