up next on a second look, bees, they pollinate our crops but can they also kill us? just how dangerous are those africanized bees. also are we killing them? we look at the strange case of the disappearing honey bees, it's all straight ahead tonight on the a second look. hello everyone i'm frank somerville. remember the scare back in the 1990s over the anticipated

arrival of those killer bees, we haven't heard a lot about them in recent years but from time to time they make news. it was reported that it was africanized bees that attacked and killed a 70-year-old man and his dogs. it was the dogs that disturbed the bees nest. >> reporter: bees arrived on a sugar arrival. >> more than likely there's no problem at all. but we wanted to make sure there was information here about bees. >> reporter: africanized bees are also known as killer bees

because they have killed when they attack in swarms. the bees have been making their way up from south america for more than a decade. officials say so far the bees have infested 12,000 square miles in several southern california counties. but commissioner myers says the africanized bee is not as dangerous as some people think. >> it will decenttize more aggressively than the european and in larger numbers. >> reporter: is the bee sting any worse than a domesticated bee? >> no, they would be exactly the same. >> reporter: this particular swarm is at a disadvantage because the bees are probably weakened from the long trip from central america and the swarm is relatively small. still some people are worried. >> i have a little worry yeah. >> i don't think there should be a lot of trouble but we'll just have to see. >> reporter: john fowler brought us this look at

africanized bees and the threat they pose. >> reporter: that's the sound of alien invaders, hybrid killers colonizing new territory. as we drove deep into the arizona desert for a close encounter, a government scientist gave us this warning. >> some of them are horrible. if you were to be attacked out here you have a problem. because it's a long way to home. >> reporter: the u.s. agriculture department jerry loper says safety demands people never go alone. and always wear protective suits. loper assured us our lives depended on these suits we were encroaching on a colony of aggressive killer bees. research shows these africanized honey bees seriously protect their colonies attacking sound, motion and color. >> the bees are attracted with the dark and red colors.

looks like the muzzle of a bear or something. >> why are they swarming around my face? >> they can smell your breath and my breath. that seems to be the key evolutionarily to the bees. they can smell the breath of a mammal and attack. >> the odor here is very much like banana oil. where my breath is coming out, the bees are congregating. i'm getting a strong dose of that and it's a very powerful smell. >> for those people that got stung this was likely the last thing they smelled. >> yes. >> reporter: despite our suits we were all stung a few times today. >> if you think it looks scary, try being inside this suit. i think i'm getting stung. >> reporter: in the 40 years

they've been in this hemisphere, bees have killed about 1,000 people. ktvu photographer don mcqade had many on his view finder. about the only thing you can do is run but bees followed people for a quarter mile. and they stayed with us for the trek. killer bees are now invading homes, this tucson apartment complex has had multiple infestations. gardens, flowers and humming bird feeders simulate a

tropical environment. exterminators can't keep up. they've even found them at the tucson airport. killer bees are efficient invaders. >> they're adapting to tucson. which they do to every environment they've reached, they're adapting to it. >> reporter: they will colonize a space as small as a soda can and will defend it to the death. this killer bee left its stinger in the finger and will die. certain pesticides kill bees but it does take specialists to deal with a killer bee too dangerous for the public. >> it is very different than anything they've ever seen and authorities need to be contacted whenever a swarm is found. it goes against my grain as a beekeeper to say that these african swarming need to be destroyed. but they need to be at least removed from where people are. >> reporter: federal bee

researchers here in tucson are discovering new details. wild killer bees swarm in trees splitting into new colonies this is one. and while the european bees swarm just once a year, killer bees will swarm a dozen times a year all yearlong. they reproduce ten times faster than ordinary honey bees and collect pollen much more efficiently. killer bee queens mature earlier so when they're born they sting to death less aggressive rivals. beekeepers can replace african sized queens with european queens, it's expensive but the only way to keep commercial hives calm. the big problem is in the wild where control is impossible. jerry loper took us into the rugged back country to see some of the wild nests he's been tracking. he says all the nests here contained calm european bees just three years ago. but now a puff of breath from

lopers test pipe sparks that tale tell aggression. and he says all the nests are now killer bee colonies. >> is there anything that can be done to stop them? >> you can slow it down in areas but we're not going to stop it. >> reporter: john fowler continues his reports on those killer bees and talks to a man who's father died after bees attacked him. when you have an unwanted beehive, boy it sure helps to have someone who knows what he's doing.

tonight we're taking a second look at killer bees even though they haven't turned out to be the widespread menace

some thought. back in 2009 john fowler talked to a man who's father died after he was attacked by killer bees. >> reporter: we're claiming what authorities call killer bee hill in the southern california city of river side. it's a rocky haven for stubborn colonies of africanized honey bees. despites attempts to plug the hive, scientists say they're here to stay. the bees crossed through the desert. they have now colonized in rural areas. now they are starting to move into civilization, where people are being stung. >> there's nothing like killer bees but africanized honey bees which can kill when they

attack. which happened just right here. >> reporter: lawn mower noise sent the bees into a frenzy. >> and boom, it was the biggest swarm i had ever seen. >> reporter: the older foster was wearing this bee net for protection but it wasn't enough. as the bees attacked, foster pulled his father into the home. >> i'm starting to weigh my life in the balance. because i saw all the stingers on him and i thought i don't even want to get that many on me. >> reporter: 100 angry bees came in with them. >> i could tell we're in a bad way because he's covered. covered. i called paramedics and i called the doctor. >> reporter: rushed to the hospital, he slipped into a coma and died. >> i don't want it to happen to anybody.

that's why i would like to educate people who don't know or haven't a clue. >> reporter: foster had declined all interviews until he saw this story we aired two weeks ago. >> they can smell the breath of a mammal then they attack. >> reporter: he says what you're hearing here now is what he and his father felt and saw without protection. >> i want to share with people that this is really happening now and here. in san francisco it's going to be there. >> most of us react to something rather than being prepared for it and the cities will not be prepared for it. >> reporter: a grim assessment from a bee expert. he says he works in the lab because the reaction to venom is too sensitive. >> you must stay away from them and use common sense just like

when your house is on fire, you have an escape plan. you have to have an escape plan with bees if you're going to go out camping or something like that. >> reporter: san diego schools now show this video to help educate young people about aggressive bees. officials say problem incidents are decreasing here. but they predict trouble at least for a while wherever the bees go. and it's a problem of educating the public and safety officials as well. kevin foster says he knew his backyard bees were acting aggressively and had he been able to convince his father were africannized bees his father would still be alive. >> i could not stand to see this happening to him because i had seen the bees were wrong and i could not convince him of

it just because he would not believe. >> reporter: they thrive at freezing temperatures and altitudes as long as they have food. they also found that interbreeding with domestic bees retains the africanized domestic behavior. it took about four years for the bees to cross 2,000 miles of desert from arizona. but it took only six months to go 200 miles into ventura. when we come back on a second look, how to deal with an unwanted beehive. a bit later what's making so many honey bees disappear. you can always have less,

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welcome back to a second look, where tonight we're exploring the world of bees. every year bees all over the bay area swarm looking for a new place to live and sometimes they end up in a place where folks really don't want them. as john mackenzie learned, that's when it really helps to

have someone who knows what he's doing. >> reporter: when chris grande found a swarm of trees outside his san lorenzo home he had the same questions that you and i had. are these those africanized killer bees we've heard about. >> we're only 18 feet from the sidewalk, there's a school around the corner. there were a few kids here looks at it. it's frightening. >> reporter: not sooner had he said those words than help arrived. rodner got our attention when he stuck his bare hand right into the swarm of bees explaining that they probably won't sting because they're full of honey when they swarm. >> you want to stick your hand in. very careful. very slowly just push it in. just very slow. now just take it out slowly.

so like i say they're full of honey because they don't know how long it's going to take them to find a new home. >> reporter: watler explained when a hive gets overpopulated a new queen is born and the old queen takes off with half the hive to find a new home. that's what these bees are doing. these are every day honey bees not the africanized kind. wadner clipped away branches then holding a box under the swarm he nonchalantly brushed several thousand bees into the box. it made quite a buzzy little christmas package. >> what i hope i've done is get the queen in here. and this is just going to give them some place to hang on to. so, we'll be able to tell in a short period whether i have the queen in here or not. >> reporter: wadler knew he had the queen in the box when worker bees took up positions outside the entrance and fanned

their scent into the air. signaling that the queen was inside and that this was home now. the other bees followed them inside. in the course of all this, wadler did get stung. that white thing on his finger is a buried stinger. >> doesn't that hurt? >> yeah >> reporter: and so the bee man walked away with about 5-pound of bees and things will be a little more peaceful around this neighborhood. >> in california's farm lands, bees are a very valuable commodity. growers need them to pollinate their crops and make them grow. in recent years a drop in the bee population meant an increase in the price that beekeepers charge farmers to use their bees, because of scrupulous bee thieves. >> reporter: it is the sound of money to bee thieves, what law

enforcement calls a growing ag crime. it is guy rutters business, he's a beekeeper in galt with 3,000 of these boxes each one with a hive inside. >> it's the monetary value ranges between 100 to $200 a colony depending on the size of it and the condition. >> reporter: he rents his bees to growers to pollinate a wide variety of crops. four years ago the going rate for a box was $50. now it's tripled and thefts are up. >> some folks seem to think that picking up other people's hives and either selling them or moving them into orchards for their own purposes it's the thing to do. >> reporter: rutter has not been victimized but his fellow beekeepers have to the tune of $60,000 in one recent heist. >> i came here in 19 # 19 -- 1976 and it was going on then. >> reporter: bee thieves will

steal hives and then rent them to growers for $150. half up front and the other half at the end of the season. >> that's $75 a colony that the individual gets with no intention to ever come back. >> reporter: he says it is difficult to quantify the beehive theft rate but there is no doubt demand is high. >> what is behind the demand for the bees is the fact that the acreage keeps going up and up and up. >> reporter: california has acres of almonds that needs two beehives per acre. >> well our colony collapse and disappearing bees is bad enough without somebody stealing them. >> reporter: many of these beehives are attached to wooden pal wooden -- pallets so it would take a forklift to move

them but that has not stopped thieves. when we come back on a second look, trying to solve a mystery. what is making so many honey bees disappear? must be nice, cheering on team usa from the shallow end. back in '08, we didn't have these u-verse wireless receivers that let you move the tv around wherever. no siree, bob. who's bob? and if you didn't have a tv outlet, well then you couldn't watch diddly-squat. you talk a lot. you have no idea how good you have it. that's not working. [ grunts ] [ male announcer ] the wireless receiver only from at&t. get a free wireless receiver with a qualifying u-verse plan. rethink possible.

about six years ago beekeepers and farmers began noticing a problem. bees began disappearing. scientists called it colony collapse disorder and began looking for what caused it and how to fix it. >> reporter: it's bee season in california but these days the buzz about bees isn't so good. busy beekeepers such as oren johnson are keeping a close eye on buzzing colonies since millions of honey bees have mysteriously vanished in recent years it's called colony collapse disorder or ccd. nobody knows what's causing it. >> we're going to inspect this

hive to see if the good live healthy functioning hive will do the almond pollination job for the almond grower. >> reporter: johnson smokes the hives to calm the bees then checking the colony. it's healthy so johnson says these bees soon should be buzzing around the orchard pollinating almond plants. >> lots and lots of bees throughout were collapsing. the hives were being found empty but full of honey. everything they needed to survive but collapsing. >> reporter: scientists were trying to figure out why? at a meeting in sacramento last month, scientists said the mini moving workers were collapsing

because of disease. senior manager bob curtis says the almond board has invested to find what works. >> viruses are one and the israeli virus is a newly identified virus however there are a number of viruses that we've known about and are dealing with. >> reporter: almonds are california's number one agricultural export with annual sales valued at about $2 billion. but no bees, no almond. and bees are important to many more crops as well. so when they're done here in mid-march they'll be going over places. >> there are 90 crops in the united states that rely on pollination to set a crop and that represents 30% of our total food supply in the united states with a value of $15 billion. according to usda figures

beekeepers lost 30% of their colonies last year. but the almond board says there will be enough bees for this year's crop. >> it's going to take a lot of people, many players working. cooperatively on this issue to make sure that we have a good strong sufficient supply of honey bees now and into the future. >> reporter: but beekeeper oren johnson says the bee's help is fragile. >> one more new virus or one more new problem is the straw that broke the camel in this case's the bee's back. you are hoping for answers and sometimes you get some or keep looking. you do everything you can and do everything you think will keep your bees healthy. >> reporter: there's a more immediate worry for manteca almond farmer tippin. >> we need 60 to 65-degree temperature and it has to be calm, not too windy.

and obviously clear. other -- other wise the bees won't fly. they won't be able to pollinate unless we get better weather. >> reporter: despite the concern about rain and disease, california's almond industry continues to thrive. the almond board is dedicating 20% of their production to research. i'm frank somerville. we'll see you again next week.