I am working with two local State legislators and a lawyer on a new law for Hawaii. So far if an exterminator gets a call about honey bees they are not required to call a live bee removal person. I would like to see this change. Here is a very rough draft of a law I will propose to the State. If you have other ideas please let me know.
Require certified commercial pesticide applicators and licensed commercial pesticide operators in the State to contact identified beekeepers or live bee removal persons to either obtain assistance in relocating specific honey bee colonies, or to seek approval to destroy the colonies, prior to extermination. These rules and regulations shall include any appropriate emergency health and safety exceptions.
I am all for protecting the bees.... but I ain't for Big Brother telling me what I have to do for bees in the wall of my house.... may not be a popular statement .....but the less the Govt is involved.... well you know...
On the surface it sounds like a good idea but I agree with SC Bee....I don't need another layer of government telling me what I can and cant do on my property. I think its far better to educate the public and get people to "want to" save the bees than to add another layer of bureaucracy. The latest media coverage about the plight of the bees has gone a long way to making more people aware and we, as beekeeper,s just need to continue along those lines and work as good will ambassadors for our winged six legged friends.
I agree, we have way too much government intrusion as it is. We get more calls for removal than ever before thanks to the media coverage.
Jim
If all it requires, is a local beekeper to be contacted for removal, I would be OK with that...
What stipulations on contact? The person has one hive? The person has a dozen hives and relocates hived cut outs and swarms?
The reason I bring this up.. if a local beekeeper with one hive, who wants no more hives is contacted, he/she will likely not be interested in doing the removal and give the OK to destroy the bees.
If the second person with a dozen hives is contacted, they may do the removal, or they may be too busy..
SO in effect, what your trying to do is make giving it the old college try a law?
In the meantime.. the bees are building up their hive, the owners are getting angry because they want them GONE, perhaps because they, or someone in their family is allergic and the bees pose a life threatening situation? In such a case, I would toss in a bug bomb and squirt foam the entrance and stop worrying about exterminators...
The situation is a catch 22.. YES, you want to do the best you can for the bees. Most anyone who is a beekeeper does, but when you complicate a situation by involving law, people get nervous and do it themselves and dont tell anyone.
Everyone loves Bambi right? Wrong... it is illegal to shoot a deer out of season here, but I know many who shoot them every chance they get... not to eat them, not to make use of them, but to stop them from destroying gardens, apple trees and crops.. they are like rats! I had 23 of them in my garden two weeks ago, I no longer have a garden.. I have an electric fence around it, they jumped over it..
You can call the game warden and get "A" permit to shoot a destructive animal.. but more than one? Your out of luck...
"No, sorry, you cant do it. If we catch you we will fine you and jail you. Possibly worse. We can confiscate guns, vehicles and even homes."
Same goes for Turkeys here... so in effect, no one tries to do the right thing any more, because doing the right thing gets you in trouble and noticed. I know a farmer that has killed over fifty animals. I am sure others have killed as many, they just do not advertise it. We have a problem, it needs dealt with, but the law only hinders..
We have DNR (or someone) Releasing Cougars. They are shot as fast as they can be.. we have calves, lambs, goats, pigs and all manner of livestock... the DNR thinks it will help with the deer population I am sure.. while they reduce the number of deer tags saying our population is low due to pressure from tree huggers... the cougars endanger everyone and their livestock.. they do NOT hunt deer.. Deer are hard to catch.. a lamb is not hard to catch, neither is a young calf, or a goat etc, etc.. if someone hands you a fishing pole to feed yourself, and then tells you you can fish right beside the open buffet table what are YOU going to do?
The point is.. if its a law, make it simple so it might be used.
I'm all for less law and letting common sense prevail. Problem is, that's not so common anymore. As a bee keeper, I love the opportunity to save local survivor stock to incorporate into my gene pool, but honestly, I could add one more colony through a walk away split and be done with it, so it's not about my colony count. It's about genetics that are working in my area. On the flip side, as others have said, I think the government does enought telling us what we can and cannot do. I have a problem with that.
Regarding the issue at hand, I think a better solution is to 'train' the public to call a beekeeper for such a problem instead of an exterminator. If they have roaches in the kitchen... exterminator. Rats in the attic... exterminator. Angry dog roaming the neighborhood... animal control. Neighbor drunk waving a gun... police. People know who to call and for what. A lot of people know for bees you call a beekeeper. Many more 'know' for bees (bugs) you call the exterminator. With proper coaching and awareness, people would simply know who to call the first time. Problem solved, no laws needed. Instead of spending resources pushing law, start up a charity and use the funds to place posters, flyers, TV ads, etc for awareness.
old mech saw your post about deer and gardens . to keep deer out . string electric fence about 3 feet high , cut aluminum pie tin into pie shapes , crimp over elect wire paint with peanut butter . one lick and they wont come back . use the yellow string kind of fence conductor . Kansas gardner , went sq hunting this morn had 3 deer snort me in an hour. went back to house and picked leaf lettuce . no deer damage.
Well, you are already have to hire a person with a pesticide license... So really this is only an extra layer the pest control ppl have.
No one is saying that YOU can't set fire to your house and burn it to the ground because you don't want bees (ok, probably a law against that but you see what I'm saying). What it sounds like he's proposing is that licensed pest control ppl can't just kill the bees and walk away.
I talked to a pest guy the other day and said, "you know when you kill a hive in a wall what kind of mess you leave behind and all the pest that it attracts?" He said, "shhhhh" and gave me a wink.
Instead of spending time and money for new laws, the next time you have a bee removal, contact your local TV reporter and have them do a segment on removing bees. Bee sure to stress what would happen if they were to have an exterminator kill the bees and leave the bees and pollen and honey in the wall.
I did one with a local station for a swarm removal on the outside of the school board building, 4 stories up and they aired about 15 minutes of the removal. The reporter was scared to death of bees but he still did it.
I later got a call from my brother up in PA asking me if that was me in the TV report that aired up there. Not sure how far and wide it went.
Good luck.
Jim
In a previous post under a totally different topic I discussed the fallacies of the Endangered Species Act. The problem here is the difference between volunteering to do the right thing and being forced by the government. Sawdstmakr made a very good point. Education is a much better approach. Teaching people that simply killing a hive of bees in their house leads to a major problem with rodents such. I think people will do the right thing on their own more often than not if they can.
Instead of creating more regulation why don't you ask the legislators appropriate some funds to the state agricultural dept that are earmarked to educate exterminators and the public about the options for bee removal and bee protection.
There ought to be a law controlling the kind of knee jerk reaction "There oughta be a law" legislation that happens every time someone is annoyed or worried by something. A citizen can't even go to work in the morning and get home to eat supper and enjoy the evening at home without breaking some "There oughta be a law" law.
No offense, orvett1, but please find another way to "help" the bees without adding burden to the already over-regulated citizenry.
Quote from: sc-bee on May 31, 2015, 05:21:01 PM
I am all for protecting the bees.... but I ain't for Big Brother telling me what I have to do for bees in the wall of my house.... may not be a popular statement .....but the less the Govt is involved.... well you know...
I agree with this..
What Hops said times 10.