Beeing There

Kevin Cook’s sensitive article about the killer bees (“Here They Come,” Sept. 18) is the best thing from the media I’ve seen lately. I’ve been thoroughly disgusted by too many well-dressed announcers trumpeting the arrival of the bees without really offering any intelligent perspective. As a professional designer and avid gardener, I’ve been enjoying handing out appropriate flyers from the Cooperative Extension Department of UC San Diego and thus diffusing some panic.

On a personal note, I’ve worked side by side with bees in the garden for years and feel saddened that there will be an end to a satisfying relationship.

Diane Pollock

Los Angeles

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There is a consensus among ethologists that eye contact between two animals of like or different species is paramount to establishing a position of dominant behavior. Primates do it. Birds do it. And even the family dog, in its perpetually recessive mental state, thrives on it.

Try it on the tabby, though, and all you are likely to get is one big kiss-off. However, such is not the case for all felines; a primary rule of the mountain trail is to avoid “interoculuscontactus” with a cougar in its own domain. The consequences could be fatal.

A couple of important questions that perhaps Cook could answer: Should there be an attempt to make eye contact with a killer bee? And if so, which one?

Harley Damon Swanson

Irvine