Bees Removed from Pasadena Hotel

The beehive and honeycomb at a local hotel where Africanized killer bees swarmed last week have been removed according to a city official.

“The bees were removed and the repairs were completed to seal the opening in the structure,” said Manuel Carmona, Deputy Director, City of Pasadena Public Health Department.

According to documents obtained by Pasadena Now, the hotel paid $500 to have the hive removed.

Police and firefighters were called to the scene after a report about a bee swarm near the Howard Johnson Inn on Colorado Boulevard last Thursday, Feb. 20. Two firefighters, two police officers and one civilian ended up at a hospital after being stung. One firefighter was stung at least 20 times.

All five people have since been released from the hospital according to Pasadena Public Information Officer Lisa Derderian.

“The hotel is now responsible for any additional bees but we’re confident a majority of the bees have been mitigated,” Derderian said,

The hotel provided an invoice for the pest control company to Environmental Health earlier this week. The amount of that invoice is unknown.

According to local beekeeper David Williams, Africanized honey bees migrated to the United States from South American in the late 70s. By 1985, L.A. County was declared Africanized by the Los Angeles County agricultural department after the Africanized bees began mating with the less aggressive American honeybees.

According to local beekeeper David Williams, while all bees will attack if their hive is threatened Africanized honey bees attack in greater numbers.

“They thought something was threatening their babies, basically,” Williams said. “Their offspring and the food supply and they were doing what bees do naturally except with an Africanized colony. It’s a hyper defensive response. So you get, instead of maybe 5 percent or 10 percent of a normal beehive defending its space. [With Africanized bees] you get up to 70, 80 percent of the bees in the hive defending the space.”