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posted by martyb on Tuesday July 17 2018, @06:09AM   Printer-friendly
from the real-time,-real-life-debugging dept.

KTLA, TV Channel 5 in Southern California, reports

A woman was critically injured after being stung "hundreds of times" by a swarm of bees in Lake Forest [South Orange County] Monday morning [July 16], and three others--including two firefighters--were also injured, officials said.

[...] "Units arrived on scene and they found her basically completely covered with bees from head to toe", Fire Authority Capt. Tony Bommarito told KTLA.

The swarm was so severe that firefighters didn't have time to put the special safety gear on that they would normally wear while responding to such incidents, according to Bommarito.

"They got out, they started felling the bees, they saw the patient down this cul-de-sac completely covered--her face was completely covered with bees", he said.

They grabbed [a carbon dioxide] extinguisher in an effort to remove the bulk of the bees off of the victim, then "basically dragged" her to a safe area about 200 yards away, according to the fire captain.

"She was basically non-responsive" to firefighter commands, although she could still move, Bommarito said.

The woman, described as being about 50 years old, was stung "hundreds of times", according to a tweet from the Fire Authority. She was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

The firefighters were stung "multiple times" and taken to a hospital in stable condition.

I have seen other stories about humans in SoCal being swarmed by Africanized "killer" bees. (I am assuming that that is what these were.) It makes me wonder how far north these bugs will range before winters get too cold for them--and how much climate change will exacerbate the situation.

Anybody north of L.A.'s latitude had similar reports where you are?


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @06:37AM (11 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @06:37AM (#708233)

    Scary.... I have had a swarm of bees in one of my trees for about five years now.

    I can only prune it in winter when the bees are too cold to fly.

    I'm trying to work with nature, and tolerate the bees, knowing how much work they do, and knowing the bees aren't having a good go at things these days. I made the situation worse last Spring, when the rains came, and I could not get around the tree to do ground cover maintenance, and fearing a "clean-up" notice from the city, I sprayed the area with RoundUp for a speedy way to deal with the springtime weeds. It took a good size toll on the size of the hive. They are living in the base of the tree, its rotten, and the tree will topple all on its own any day now.

    I really don't want to wage war with the bees. I'd just as soon let them be. But the thought they may go after me or a neighbor gives me great concern whether to just let them be or should I do just one "careless" spraying with fipronil or malathion would certainly do the whole hive in. This is city surburban, not rural.

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @07:05AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @07:05AM (#708236)

    The "killer" bees don't tolerate much activity around them.
    It doesn't sound like those are what you have.
    If you could manage to trap one and take it to the county ag department, they'd likely be able to tell you.

    The hyperaggressive strains came about as a result of trying to breed a better bee in Brazil. [wikipedia.org]
    The guy who was conducting the experiment went on vacation and, apparently, didn't leave proper instructions on what to do and what NOT to do.
    His temporary replacement ("visiting beekeeper") removed the "queen excluders" on the hives.

    The interbred bees with the nasty dispositions have been moving north since 1957 and continue to interbreed with local honey bees.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Tuesday July 17 2018, @07:21AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 17 2018, @07:21AM (#708239) Journal

      Yeah, naaah, those aren't proper africanized bees.
      This doco [wikipedia.org] shows that the proper ones may cause a nuke station undergo a catastrophic meltdown in a matter of minutes after stinging it to death.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Slartibartfast on Tuesday July 17 2018, @11:17AM (1 child)

    by Slartibartfast (5104) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @11:17AM (#708269)

    You're worrying too much -- probably. The nutshell is, if you're south of the Mason Dixon (more-or-less), there's a chance they could be Africanized (a/k/a "killer") bees; they don't winter, so they die off when it is winter. This woman was almost certainly stung by Africanized bees, because that's pretty much their trademark -- massive numbers of swings, attacking in unison. Second, just to be a weeny, what you have ain't a swarm, it's a hive. A swarm is a bunch of bees, looking for a hive. Honestly? If you want 'em gone, there's probably a beekeeper near you who'd be more than willing to take them -- next Spring:
    A swarm of bees in May is worth a bale of hay
    A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon
    A swarm of bees in July ain't worth a fly
    Right now, it's so late in the season that the bees would be unlikely to establish themselves well in a new locale before winter, and would need lots of high-touch TLC. That's a drag. Call around for a local beekeeper's club come March of next year, and you'll have people lined up who'll find a way to take them.

    • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:05PM

      by tangomargarine (667) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @03:05PM (#708352)

      Scary.... I have had a swarm of bees in one of my trees for about five years now.

      I can only prune it in winter when the bees are too cold to fly.

      You're worrying too much -- probably. The nutshell is, if you're south of the Mason Dixon (more-or-less), there's a chance they could be Africanized (a/k/a "killer") bees; they don't winter, so they die off when it is winter.

      Uh...I'm going with "no."

      --
      "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:40PM

    by Immerman (3985) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @12:40PM (#708298)

    If you want them gone, humanely, try contacting a local beekeeper organization - there might be someone willing to come and adopt your hive. I know they're usually delighted to adopt new swarms, don't know for sure if that translates to established hives as well, but it's worth a shot.

  • (Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday July 17 2018, @10:17PM (2 children)

    by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Tuesday July 17 2018, @10:17PM (#708546)

    Leave them bee! If they have not shown aggressive behavior so far they are not likely to suddenly start. It is not like they are going to morph into killer bees. You can probably clear the brush without worry, avoiding using any more poisons. Try doing it at night or wait until colder weather if necessary. Look up a local agricultural society, they may be able to advise you further (and more specifically to your site).

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @11:51PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 17 2018, @11:51PM (#708578)

      A very old trick for pacifying bees is smoke. [google.com]

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Wednesday July 18 2018, @02:40AM

      by Reziac (2489) on Wednesday July 18 2018, @02:40AM (#708627) Homepage

      They might, if the queen is aging -- bees with an old queen (4-5 years) tend to get mean. Seen it happen, with a wild hive that moved into a barn wall -- first 3 years they were so gentle you could stick a finger in there or peer into their entrance and they'd just ignore you. 4th year they got testy if you came close to the hive. 5th year you didn't walk past it unless you wanted to get chased and stung. 6th year -- they were gone. Yeah, normally bees replace the queen but sometimes they don't.

      A captured swarm was worth about $200 a couple decades back (when I was working for a SoCal beekeeper) tho generally people just want to be rid of them, so beekeepers often charge for the privilege.

      Been chased by Africanized bees -- even the meanest English bee is nothing like it. English bee might chase you 20 feet, one or two at a time. Africanized bees come after you en masse and chase you a lot furthert ... had to run for the trailer and they hit the door behind me like machine-gun fire. And they'll even do that while swarming -- quite unlike English bees.

      --
      And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @02:46AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @02:46AM (#708629)

    We used to keep bees when I was a kid. Any bee keeper in your area would be happy to retrieve a hive (or a real swarm). But, bees don't just hang out in a permanent swarm, so I am not certain of what you are describing-- it sounds like you are describing bees foraging in flowering trees.

    FYI when bees do swarm, they are completely docile. When they would rest on e.g., the wall of a building, we would take a large soft brush and sweep them into a box to take back to their new home. With each swipe of the brush, we would sweep 100s into the box, and they would just drop into the box and not try to fly away. Could do this in shorts, short sleeves, sandals, and zero protective gear/smoke and not get a single sting.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @05:16AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 18 2018, @05:16AM (#708678)

      They have been in the same place, in the base of a hollow rotted out tree in my front yard, for several years now. I see them constantly coming and going from an orifice in the tree trunk, about a foot off ground level. And the place reeks of honey. Had it not been so rainy earlier this year, and got all the weeds going, I would not have applied any glyphosate to the weeds, but I had to do something before they got knee high and the neighbors start complaining about unkempt yards - and its too warm..

      The bees will defend their turf if I mess around there too long. I have already received two stings, but so far they have not ganged up on me, both times it seemed to be a solitary bee concerned that I might harm their home, and both times I was pruning in the immediate vicinity. So I loaded up the sprayer with glyphosate and did a late night quietly executed sneak run on the weeds, as I was trying to be as careful as I could to minimize the amount of overspray. If I am not careful, I will have dandelions all over the place, as well as irate neighbors really pissed that my dandelions are seeding their yard with numerous airborne offspring and making a lot of work for them as well to clean up. I can't say as I blame them either. It seems everyone in my neighborhood hates dandelions, and he who has some best get rid of them, but hopefully if I don't rub anyones nose in it, they will overlook the bee hive.

      I figure the bees have got to live somewhere, and where they picked is out is one of the few places in the whole neighborhood they could possibly be without causing major havoc with kids or gardeners. If anyone complains, I will have to get rid of them one way or another.

      • (Score: 2) by EETech1 on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:55AM

        by EETech1 (957) on Thursday July 19 2018, @02:55AM (#709172)

        My folks had some wasps that moved into their dead apple tree stump.

        I used a water bottle full of good old gasoline to get rid of them

        Just squirt it in, run like heck, and throw a flaming stick at it.

        Theirs even exploded and blasted flaming waps everywhere, it was awesome:)

        *Caution may create an explosion of flamming wasps.