100,000 Killer Bees Attack 2 Park Workers in Fla., Men Hospitalized
Two park workers in Florida were attacked by more than 100,000 Africanized honeybees when they accidentally disturbed a hive that was located in an old tire.
David Zeledon and Rodney Pugh were clearing trash in Picnic Island Park, which is outside of Tampa, when they picked up the old truck tire, sending the hive into a defensive panic, according to WFTS.
"It was like a thousand little knives poking me in my body … It was like bees all in the cab … So I'm trying to swat, and they say never to swat bees … My ears were just throbbing with pain. It's the worst feeling because you just had so many and they wouldn't stop," Pugh told ABC.
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The pair was able to flee the menacing creatures and were then taken to an area hospital, where they were given antibiotics and received treatment for hundreds of stings. Doctors stated the two men are expected to make a full recovery.
After news of the incident spread, park officials decided to eradicate the bee hive and hired Jonathan Simkins, of Insect I.Q., to deal with the bees. The bees were removed, but Simkins explains that eliminating this single hive would not solve the bee problem, namely because Africanized bees swarm far more often than there more docile European counterparts.
Africanized bees have been known to send out swarms up to 17 times a year in search of new locations to build more hives.
"The problem that we're having is the wild bees … This pile of rubbish wasn't moved for three years. So this colony's been breeding and sending out colonies … The European bee will swarm once or twice a year. The African bee will swarm up to 17 times," Simkins told WFTS.
Africanized bees are also hard to identify given that the bees closely resemble regular honeybees. The main difference is that Africanized bees tend to be far more aggressive.
