The Eagle
BRYAN, Texas — A man had to be airlifted to the hospital after being attacked by a swarm of bees Tuesday morning, Hearne police said.
The man, whose name and age have not been released pending notification of next of kin, had been mowing the lawn near a self-storage facility in the 800 block of West Brown Street at about 11 a.m. when the bees attacked, authorities said.
Firefighters were able to get the bees away by hosing the man down with soap and water before taking him to St. Joseph hospital in Bryan in critical condition, said Sgt. Stephen Yohner with Hearne police.
Yohner said the loud noise from the lawn mower may have disrupted the bees that overcame the man.
Authorities diverted traffic away from the area for about an hour-and-a-half, but the self-storage facility and a nearby abandoned hotel were roped off until beekeepers were called in. As a precaution, school officials kept students indoors for the rest of the day.
Meredith Neely, who works across the street, said she was on the phone when she heard the sirens.
“I got up and looked out the window, and I could see the owner over there with hands all around his head, slapping his face,” she said.
Neely described the incident as a “wild scene for a little bit because [the bees] were going after the emergency people too.”
Authorities did not say what kind of bees were involved but a Texas A&M agriculture professor said they were likely honey bees because “they’re the only social bees around.”
Juliana Rangel, who also oversees the Honey Bee Lab at A&M, said bees are disturbed by vibrations or extreme weather conditions.
“So as soon as they feel threatened or that their home is threatened, they have quite a wide radius of action,” she said. “They will attack whatever is near their home to protect it.”
Her best advice against a bee attack is to take cover by going into the closest building and shutting all doors and windows.
Rangel noted that fatal incidents involving bee attacks are not common and warned against misconceptions that bees are bad.
“Honey bees are the most important pollinator of the food we eat, pollinating about 1/3 of the food we consume,” she said. “They’re arguably the most important insect to our agriculture and when managed with care, honey bees and beekeeping can be very rewarding.”
The numbers of managed bee colonies across the country have been declining over the last 20 years, so Rangel encouraged anyone who finds a bee hive and wants it removed to contact the Texas Apiary Inspection Service, which can refer homeowners to local beekeepers with permits to transport live bees.
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