It is not even May yet and Africanized honey bees are already out in full force in areas of southern Texas. Of course, Africanized honey bees need no introduction, as this species is infamously known as “the killer bee”. However, today the southwest US is populated with hybridized colonies of Africanized honey bees and common European honey bees. This genetic mixture has resulted in several generations of offspring that are both resourceful and ferocious, and they emerge each Spring in Texas where they inflict many merciless attacks on bystanders that are unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Nobody knows the horrors of being caught in the middle of a killer bee swarm like one Aledo family that suddenly became inundated with the bees after they emerged from the walls in their home.
Last weekend, Krysta Mullins was sleeping-in at her Aledo home when she was awoken by her 9 year old daughter who claimed that the family’s two dogs had been heard crying on the patio. Unfortunately, Mullins could not have received a more unpleasant wake-up call, as she immediately sustained a sting to her eye after opening the patio door slightly. One of the dogs jumped to the ground below the patio to safety, while the other dog fled into the home while being pursued by what experts believe was a 200,000 strong killer bee swarm.
During the struggle to find safe shelter, Mullins found herself covered in the dangerous bees. Her family ran out of the house and into the street in different directions while frantically removing their clothes. Two doors away, John Lombardy and his wife were enjoying their Saturday morning coffee before they too were swarmed by the massive cloud of deadly bees. The couple heard the bee’s buzzing sounds seconds before the swarm became visible. Later, a pest control professional retrieved a hive from inside a wall within the Mullins family home. The pest controller estimated that the bees had been building the hive for at least three years, and he claimed that removing all the bee corpses from the home would be impossible. Happily, nobody was seriously injured, but several residents spent the rest of the weekend pulling stingers out of their skin.
Have you ever sustained a bee sting on a particularly sensitive spot on your body?
