By Hugh O’Brien: Residents in Santa Elena, Cayo, are grateful today as they received timely assistance from the Cayo Agriculture Department in controlling multiple swarms that were causing havoc in the community. The most difficult of these swarms were located in a very bushy ‘barranco’ area near the river.
Agriculture personnel say that they received two (2) reports on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, concerning aggressive bee activity in Santa Elena Town, Cayo District. The first report was made by a resident who stated that aggressive bees had attacked and killed three of her dogs within the area, and evidence of the dead dogs were provided. Personnel from the Cayo Agriculture Department responded to the location the same Wednesday and the bee colony was successfully eradicated.
However, later on Wednesday a second report was received from another resident that there has been aggressive bee activity in her neighborhood since Saturday, May 23, 2026. Following a field assessment of the situation, the agriculture technicians determined that the bees originated from the ‘barranco’ area of a separate owner’s property located on George Price Avenue. Because of the difficulty in accessing the ‘barranco’ area, a coordinated effort was launched today, May 28, 2026, with assistance from the NEMO Coordinator for the Cayo District, the Fire Department and the Santa Elena/San Ignacio Town Council (SISE). 
Breaking Belize News (BBN) reached out to the Cayo District Agriculture Coordinator (DAC), William Can who said “the eradication operation was successfully carried out without further incident.” DAC Can said he wished to thank “Javier Habet from NEMO, Mayor Earl Trapp and the Fire Department for their kind and timely assistance”.
William Can told BBN that “during the operation we received an additional report of aggressive bee activity in another area located behind A&R in Santa Elena and this swarm was also eradicated the same day”.
According to DAC Can “continued monitoring and further inspections are recommended to ensure public safety and to identify any remaining active colonies”.
While agriculture personnel responded to this incident, the approved policy measure within the Ministry is a group of private bee removal experts have been trained and certified to carry out bee eradication in private properties. The list of these certified private bee removal experts for the Cayo District is provided below for ease of reference. For public buildings and schools, the Ministry of Agriculture still maintains responsibility for bee eradication and residents in Cayo can call 804-2079 to report cases.
The post Three (3) dogs killed by africanized bees in Santa Elena; agriculture personnel responds and eradicates multiple swarms of aggressive bees in the ‘barranco’ area near the river appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Hugh O’Brien: Residents in Santa Elena, Cayo, are grateful today as they received timely assistance from the Cayo Agriculture Department in controlling multiple swarms that were causing havoc in the community. The most difficult of these swarms were located in a very bushy ‘barranco’ area near the river. Agriculture personnel say that they received
The post Three (3) dogs killed by africanized bees in Santa Elena; agriculture personnel responds and eradicates multiple swarms of aggressive bees in the ‘barranco’ area near the river appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.