<P> In October 2010, a 73 - year - old man was killed by a swarm of Africanized honey bees while clearing brush on his south Georgia property, as determined by Georgia's Department of Agriculture . In 2012 state officials reported that a colony was found for the first time in a bee keepers colony in Monroe County, eastern Tennessee . In June 2013, 62 - year - old Larry Goodwin of Moody, TX was killed by a swarm of bees . </P> <P> In May, 2014 Colorado State University confirmed that bees from a swarm which had aggressively attacked an orchardist near Palisade, in West Central Colorado, were from an Africanized hive - and the hive was subsequently destroyed . </P> <P> In tropical climates they effectively out - compete European bees and, at their peak rate of expansion, they spread north at a rate of almost two kilometers (about one mile) a day . There were discussions about slowing the spread by placing large numbers of docile European - strain hives in strategic locations, particularly at the Isthmus of Panama, but various national and international agricultural departments were unable to prevent the bees' expansion . Current knowledge of the genetics of these bees suggests that such a strategy, had it been attempted, would not have been successful . </P> <P> As the Africanized honeybee migrates further north, colonies continue to interbreed with European honeybees . In a study conducted in Arizona in 2004 it was observed that swarms of Africanized bees were capable of taking over weakened European honey bee hives by invading the hive, then killing the European queen and establishing their own queen . There are now relatively stable geographic zones in which either African bees dominate, a mix of African and European bees is present, or only non-African bees are found, as in the southern portions of South America or northern North America . </P>

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