Bee Attack

[bassman1977]

Associated Press/AP Online

WACO, Texas - A swarm of bees attacked a 74-year-old Texas man as he mowed his lawn, stinging him more than 200 times.

Authorities in Waco said Harold Braun was hospitalized in stable condition Tuesday, the day after the attack in his front yard.

His brother, Al, says the victim was using a riding mower and stirred up the bees when he went over an area that had been covered by a rubber mat.

Al Braun told the Waco Tribune-Herald that his brother frantically phoned him for help, and he called police on his way to the scene.

Paramedics pulled out more than 150 stingers, and additional stingers were removed at the hospital.

An exterminator later determined that the bees were a cross between domestic bees and the aggressive Africanized or so-called "killer" bees.

[kathyp]

do the africanized bees go into the ground or under stuff on the ground?   that would be a good thing to know!

how did the exterminator determine that?

i have run the tractor over yellowjacket nests.  i found high gear really quickly!!

[dirtyanklebeekeeper]

I have had a run in with yellow jackets too. I ran over the nest with a tractor and let me tel you it felt like fire shooting through me when I was stung I got four stings in total. I think my honey be stings effects last longer though. anyone know this to be true?

Damien

[doak]

Afracianized bees are a cross between European  and African bees.
It is reported that they will nest any where in or out of cover.
Bumble Bees, Not (Carpenter) bees love marsh grass. Try mowing a patch of it with a nest of bumble bees in it. High gear isn't fast enough. :)doak

[Scadsobees]

My dad ran into a hornet nest in a bush with the lawn tractor.  He tried to drive away from them as fast as he could before he realized that hornets are A LOT FASTER than a lawn tractor!!!   He finally left the mower for the hornets.

I think that bees are a little like dogs...if they attack a human for no reason, its probably best to put them down.  I try to remember that these are thousands of sometimes angry stinging insects and not happy-dream candy-fluff fairies who only wish us well...    Sometimes they gotta go.

Rick