COUNTY ARMS FOR BEE FIGHT; SUPERVISORS ASKED TO ALLOCATE $40,000.

Byline: David Greenberg Daily News Staff Writer

They haven't seen them yet, but agricultural officials believe killer bees have arrived in eastern Ventura County.

Sighted just over the county line, the insects, a cross between European and African bees, are believed to have colonized the area, leaving safety officials to create an extermination program for the hybrid bees that aggressively swarm and sting. Multiple stings may be fatal to humans and animals.

``We suspect the Africanized bee is in Ventura County,'' said Alan Laird, deputy county agricultural commissioner. ``It's something we're going to have to learn to live with. Most of the counties in Southern California are already infested.''

The agricultural commissioner's staff will ask the county Board of Supervisors to appropriate $40,000 on Tuesday for an enforcement program that will include a toll-free phone line, contracted services, overtime pay for inspectors and acquisition of equipment, such as protective suits and sprayers.

``We must have the ability to respond seven days a week,'' said Agricultural Commissioner Earl McPhail in a brief letter to supervisors.

At least five deaths have been blamed on the killer bees since they migrated into Texas from South American countries in 1990, officials said. Most human deaths from bee stings result from an allergic reaction.

Supervisor John Flynn called the killer bees a major concern but said county residents who spot the bees or their hives should also consider calling private pest control companies.

``The county can't solve every problem in the world,'' he said.

Experts say the bees have typically spread within a 20-square-mile radius of a confirmed sighting. Some were spotted in Hidden Hills last week and in Calabasas earlier last month, so agricultural officials believe eastern Ventura County has been colonized by the Africanized bees, they said.

Last week, Ventura County agricultural inspectors caught 10 bees countywide and sent them to a laboratory in Sacramento for DNA testing to determine whether they are Africanized hybrid bees or the more common, less-aggressive European honeybee.

The first five to be tested were not killer bees, Laird said, and officials are waiting for results on the others.

He said Ventura County is in the Africanized bees' migration path and called it only a matter of time before confirmed sightings begin.

The hybrid bees, released by mistake in 1957 by researchers in Brazil, migrated in all directions.

``They are very easily agitated,'' Laird said. ``They are considered to be aggressive and swarm in numbers.''

The first colony in the United States was reported in Texas in 1990. Others were found in Imperial County about three years ago, Laird said.

Safety officials warn county residents to call 911 if they receive multiple stings from bees.

County agricultural inspectors should be contacted if a swarm of bees is sighted but no one is stung, Laird said. The number is [phone].