Category: killer bees

Thousands Of Bees Attack Texas Couple, Kill Horses

On By A.P.In Bees, killer bees, TexasLeave a comment

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A swarm of about 30,000 bees attacked a North Texas couple as they exercised their miniature horses, stinging the animals so many times they died.

Kristen Beauregard, 44, was stung about 200 times, and her boyfriend about 50 times, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Saturday ( ). http://bit.ly/12RiVMA

But the horses, Chip and Trump, were so covered in bees they shimmered. Neither could be saved.

“They were chasing us down, they were following us,” Beauregard said of the incident Wednesday evening. “We swept up piles and piles of them … it was like a bad movie.”

The bees are being tested to see whether they are Africanized or “killer” bees. It is unclear what prompted them to leave the hive.

Beauregard was exercising Trump, a Shetland pony, when he started to jump and kick, she said. That is when a cloud of bees started stinging them all over. Trying to escape, she jumped in the pool and the horse followed.

“It got all dark, like it was nighttime there were so many bees,” she told the newspaper. “We were trying stand up in the water but every time we stuck our heads out for air, they would cover us and start stinging us. We were trying to breathe and they were stinging us in the face and in the nose.”

She escaped to the house, and her boyfriend called 911. Bees chased her, crashing into the windows of the house. Trump ran through the yard, rubbing against bushes in an attempt to wipe off the bees.

Beauregard’s boyfriend called 911 and firefighters arrived with special gear and a foam substance used to clear the bees. They were able to drag the horses to a pasture where police and paramedics tried to treat them.

Chip, a 6-year-old show horse, died before a veterinarian arrived. Trump was sedated and taken to equine veterinarian Patricia Tersteeg’s clinic.

“He was so overwhelmed by bites that his body could not handle it,” Tersteeg said. “That’s way too much for any 250-pound mammal to survive.”

The bees also killed five hens, and stung the couple’s dog.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/27/bee-attack-texas_n_3663964.html

Giant hive with a half million killer bees discovered in Richardson, Texas

On By A.P.In Bees, Jefferson Souza, killer bees, Kyle Lieb, Mr. Cuomo, NatureLeave a comment

A Richardson Texas neighborhood was all a-buzz Friday morning, after workers discovered a huge four foot tall bee hive filled with killer bees.

“I can still get stung, hopefully not today,” says Kyle Lieb, Beekeeper with Little Giant Beekeepers.  He and his partner, Jefferson Souza, are suiting up for a dangerous job: removing the hive filled with killer bees.

“I’m stung 15-20 times per day,” says Souza.

Because they’re killer bees, they’ve made their last batch of honey. The hybrid bee is more likely to attack than your average honey bee.

“Unfortunately, we have to exterminate them, because no beekeeper will take it, because they’re aggressive.  We don’t want them to spread,” says Lieb.

Beekeepers say they believe the massive hive was filled with as many as 500,000 angry bees.

Neighbors say they believe the hive had to be removed in the interest of public safety. Residents along Clear Lake Circle worried that kids, who play at the end of the cul de sac, could get stung. The city wasn’t going to take that chance.

“If they do attack, they attack in large numbers, like hundreds or thousands.  It can be deadly,” says Lieb.

Workers believe these busy bees have been making the hive the past seven months. There may be as much as 30 pounds of honey inside, which cannot be harvested now that the hive has been sprayed with pesticide.

It took only a few hours to make sure all of the bees died. Workers then removed the hive, so another colony could not move into the vacant “house” in the neighborhood.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Massive-Killer-Beehive-Removed-in-Richardson-170715986.html

Thanks to Mr. Cuomo for bringing this to the attention of the It’s Interesting community.