How bee rampage terrorized neighborhood, killed 2 dogs

Volunteer Beekeeper Norman Lott from the Mt. Diablo Beekeepers Association, left, answers questions from the media about bees and Africanized "killer bees", the kind that officials suspect took over the hive belonging to an amateur beekeeper's, the son of Alex Janke pictured holding his dog Bella looking on at right May 14, 2016 in Concord, Calif. Lott came to offer his help to the beekeeper, but was informed that his services were not needed as the beekeeper was going to remove the remaining bees in the evening hours while they were settled and calmer. less Volunteer Beekeeper Norman Lott from the Mt. Diablo Beekeepers Association, left, answers questions from the media about bees and Africanized "killer bees", the kind that officials suspect took over the hive ... more Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Leah Millis, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close How bee rampage terrorized neighborhood, killed 2 dogs 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

5/24/2016 UPDATE: DNA tests later confirmed despite the deadly behavior, the species of bees involved were not in fact Africanized "Killer" bees. Read More.

The Concord beekeeper who set off an attack by a swarm of suspected “killer bees” over the weekend was an experienced hobbyist who had the beehives for 15 years and didn’t notice anything amiss with his honeybees until he tried to move the hives so his father could do some backyard landscaping.

Nothing was out of the ordinary when Arthur Janke, 41, moved the first hive on Friday. But when he tried to move the second one, those bees went berserk, stinging him despite his bee suit, attacking his parents and rampaging out into the neighborhood around Hitchcock Road, stinging neighbors, passersby, a mail carrier and pets. Two dogs that were repeatedly stung died.

The terrifying incident comes months after scientists confirmed that Africanized killer bees had migrated from Southern California and were in the Bay Area, at the edge of Briones Regional Park. If DNA tests confirm that the insects are Africanized bees, the incident would be the first known attack in the Bay Area by the invasive species, whose ominous movements northward have been documented for decades.

Northern Californians living in warmer areas would also be faced with a new reality: This could happen in your neighborhood, park or campground, and experts say people need to know what to do if they encounter the dangerous bees.

“I’ve never seen a behavior like that,” said Alex Janke, whose son has kept bees for 15 years. “There was a big swarm, and they were trying to sting everything. Arthur tried to move as many as he could back in the hive, but there was still a cloud of bees in the backyard. They were all over.”

The pugnacious bees spread out along Hitchcock, near Cowell Road and Treat Boulevard, attacking pedestrians, swirling around cars and harassing police officers who arrived to help.

Mike Malley, who lives across the street from the Jankes, said he got stung about 16 times on his face and arms on Friday.

“I could hear the mail lady screaming from my house,” Malley said. “She took off screaming and ran down the road. Two guys in a pickup truck stopped to help her, and the bees attacked them. So they ran the other way and left their pickup idling for about two hours.”

Malley said he tried to help the postal worker, Melissa Weisner, who was “was covered in bees.”

“I have really long, thick hair and they got in it pretty good,” said Weisner, reached by phone Sunday.

Weisner was stung twice in the head, and went to a medical clinic for treatment on Friday afternoon. She said she came back to deliver the mail on Saturday but wore a hat and skipped the Jankes’ block.

A jogger running down Hitchcock Road on Saturday also got swarmed by bees, Malley said. “He made a helicopter out of his shirt and was swatting to get them away.”

Alex Janke went to an urgent care clinic after getting stung a dozen times on the arms and face during the first wave of attacks. His wife and son were also stung but didn’t require medical attention. His neighbors found their two dachshunds, Milo and Gunner, covered with bee stings in the backyard when they returned home that night. A veterinarian found at least 50 stingers in their bodies, authorities and neighbors said. The dogs died.

The furious onslaught continued Sunday in the well-kept neighborhood of one- and two-story houses, and very few people were venturing outside. Play structures, basketball hoops, decks, gardens and other features of suburban life stood empty.

The bees, however, buzzed around people’s heads and stung those who stepped out of their cars, including several reporters. The bees circled a vehicle of one fleeing driver Sunday, apparently waiting for the person to emerge.

Arthur Janke moved the hives Friday to a ranch the family owns in Clayton and on Saturday sprayed them with warm, soapy water when they clustered into a ball for the night, a recommended technique for killing them.

The strategy didn’t immediately work, because many bees remained in Concord.

“These were all bees that were left behind,” said Norman Lott, a beekeeper with the Mount Diablo Beekeepers Association, who got stung when he tried to help. “The bees had no central point to focus on, so they spread all over the neighborhood. They’re agitated, out protecting their territory.”

The Jankes were still struggling Sunday to get rid of the bees as members of the Mount Diablo Beekeepers Association collected samples to submit for DNA testing.

Africanized honeybees, also called killer bees because of their tendency to aggressively pursue and repeatedly sting animals and people over distances of as much as 500 yards, were found in the Bay Area in 2014 in Lafayette, near Briones Regional Park, by UC San Diego researchers. Their findings were reported in September’s issue of the journal Plos One.

The Africanized honeybee is a hybrid of the European bee and the African bee, originally brought west to Brazil to improve honey production. The breed eventually escaped and spread through South America, Central America and ultimately the U.S. It entered California in 1994 and has gradually spread north.

Africanized bees have killed animals on chains and in fenced enclosures in Southern California and Texas. In August 2015, a swarm of Africanized bees killed a construction worker and injured two others in Riverside as the workers graded land for a parking lot, unaware that an underground vault housed a hive.

“You mess with a honeybee hive, you may have two or three bees after you,” said Lott. “You mess with an Africanized bee hive, you’ve got 200 or 300 bees after you.”

The swarming bees may be an indication that the species is more widespread than previously thought. Although killer bees were confirmed only in Lafayette, researchers say there are likely more hives around Northern California. The problem is, the bees are difficult to detect and beekeepers aren’t likely to realize they’re housing killer bees until they encounter truculent behavior. Even then, it can’t be confirmed without genetic testing.

Lott said the killer bees can move into an area and form hives of their own, usurp a honeybee hive or have drones mate with a honeybee queen, forming a hybrid bee.

Lott said the bees in this case apparently killed the honeybee queen and took over the hive, unbeknownst to the beekeeper, until he moved the hive.

The stinging insects had calmed down a bit by Sunday evening, but the streets were still quiet. A community alert was still in effect, and police were patrolling the area warning passersby about the danger.

Rachel Swan and Peter Fimrite are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com, pfimrite@sfchronicle.com

What to do when bees attack

Although Africanized bees are slightly smaller than European bees, there is no accurate way for the casual observer to distinguish between them.

Africanized bees out foraging will usually not attack.

If you get close to a hive, you should move away quickly.

If you sense that bees are approaching, run as far and fast as you can. Africanized bees have been known to swarm perceived threats relentlessly and in high numbers.

Do not swat away or crush Africanized bees. That will only further antagonize other members of the hive.

If you can get away from enough of them to run inside, do it. You can deal with the ones who made it in with you. Brush them off your clothes. Then remove the stingers by scraping them with a credit card or similar object. Don’t use tweezers (that will inject more venom).

Don’t jump into a swimming pool or bodies of water to get away. They have been known to wait for people to surface.

When in a safe location, call a local bee professional and emergency personnel.