McAllen recent bee attack stung many

Just last month, The Advance published a story about “Killer Bees” after they attacked a man and a woman in the 7000 block of East State Hwy. 107, while they were doing yard work that included the use of loud equipment.

This past Saturday, the bees struck again.

Weekend Attack

Smack dab near the center of McAllen Saturday afternoon (Oct. 26), city firefighters responded to a bee call at approximately 12:30 in the 1900 block of W. Hackberry and found a man lying on the ground.

Pummeling him with multiple stings, a swarm of Africanized bees. How many, approximately, hasn’t yet been disclosed.

Credit to the firefighters (first responders et al), but despite knowing they would be stung, sans protective gear, they waded into the bee attack to pull the male victim to safety.

In the end, the adult male was transported to a local hospital after the firefighters had begun initial medical treatment, where he was subsequently listed in stable condition.

One firefighter was also hospitalized where was also later listed as “stable.”

Besides those two “bee victims,” an undisclosed number of firefighters, paramedics, and police officers were also stung at the Hackberry location Saturday afternoon, according to a city report.

According to a city press release, the hive was located and mitigated (destroyed).

Where the hive was found hasn’t yet been disclosed, although these days, the bees can hide in many places.

To see if you have any Africanized hives around your home, business, simply do an online search for: “How to watch out for Africanized bees.”

There is a good source from the University of North Carolina titled “Africanized Honey Bees: Prevention and Control.”

Part of the solution is finding them before they find you, and the NC Uni article, and others like it, spells out the many ways to do it.

The North Carolina site writes that media use the term “Killer Bee” because it’s a way to “sensationalize” the Africanized honey bee.

However, if people are occasionally dying from bee attacks, which they are, won’t the term “Killer Bees” grab the public’s attention faster than “Africanized Bees?”

Isn’t it the attention of the public that we all seek so that situations like the one that took place Saturday may be avoided?

Applause to all those first-responders who walked into the bee attack Saturday to rescue the man lying prone on the ground still getting stung when they rolled up on the scene. Doubtless that without their selfless involvement, the man would now be dead.

Advance Columnist Attacked

If you want to know what it’s like to be attacked by “Killer Bees,” (there’s never just one), you need go no further than our own religion columnist, Chris Voss.

Voss has been attacked not once, but twice by the Africanized (killer) Bees. Both times happened near his residence near Mission, and in both instances, he was stung multiple times. The only thing that perhaps saved him was his ability to run.

In fact, according to one story about the Killer Bees published in 2013 by the LA Times, if attacked, one bee expert recommended that “people should run, as fast and as far as they can, and they can usually out distance the killer bees, which are limited to about a quarter of a mile from their hives.”

Those using heavy equipment in key areas, like Texas, advised the bee expert, should walk their property looking for bee infestations before using heavy machinery, whose low frequency vibrations are perceived by the Killer Bees to be an imminent threat.

In the two bee attacks involving Chris Voss, one occurred when he lifted a utility cover, which housed an irrigation valve, and the bees suddenly came swarming from it.

“I raced home,” he said, “with the bees following me the entire way, stinging me as I ran. They never gave up.”

Fortunately for Voss, a former marathon runner, he can cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. And in both instances, the attacks occurred no more than a quarter mile from his home.

Asked if he can still run an eight-minute mile, a common benchmark for runners, today, Voss, 65, says no.

(Note: This part of the story including Voss was first published nine years ago.)

“I can do about a 10-minute mile these days,” he says.

But when the bees went after him approximately three years ago?

“I’m guessing I was running a 7-minute pace.”

No doubt. The second attack occurred approximately a year later when he was out in his subdivision, which he developed, doing some simple landscaping work. He thought he saw some trash in a bush, reached in, not knowing the Killer Bees had formed a huge hive, and here they came again. Same reaction: he raced home, thankful he still had fast legs.

He says now that he carries with him an EpiPen, so that if he’s ever stung again, he can inject himself with a quick dose of epinephrine to combat the chance of anaphylaxis shock.

“The second time I got stung, I was more swollen than the first time,” he said. “And the doctors told me that with every time you’re stung, your chances of an allergic reaction increase. So trust me, I’m careful with what I do, whether it’s lifting an irrigation cover or sticking my hand into some bushes.”

Stay safe, mis amigos.