Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Firefighters called to rescue a 57 year old disabled man from a bee attack were also attacked. Elias Saldivar, Alton Texas fire chief said his men were stung repeatedly as they tried to rescue Paul Lee Campton who was covered from head to toe with bees.
Compton died Thursday at the Mission Regional Medical Center after having been stung more than 1,000 times the day before.
These bees were so viscious in their attack and so focused on Paul Campton that they followed after the man en route to the hospital. None of the rescuers sustained serious injuries, but fire and police departments are now begining to aquire sting proof clothing. Expecting a continued rise in these types of attacks rescue workers in many cities are also carrying bee suits for cases just such as this. These attacks are becoming more frequent.
The Alton Fire Department has responded to at least 5 more incidents involving bee attacks so far this year; fortunately these were less serious.
Bee Advised! Wear light-colored clothing when doing yard work; Bees are attracted to dark colors.
Search the yard for signs of bees before mowing; mower noise irritates bees.
Find out if you are allergic to bee stings; discuss antidotes with your doctor. If you are allergic, one sting can kill.
Don’t remove stingers with your fingers, use a credit card to scrape stingers off skin; removing them with finger can spread their poison.
Bee advise source: McAllen Fire Department, Lt. Rene Alaniz…Thank you.
There is no mention of what kind of bees attacked Campton. Searching other incidents of bee attacks and deaths also don’t identify the type of bees that have been involved.
Are the increasing attacks coming from the more aggressive Africanized Bees?
Are there attacks by European Honeybees?
Africanized honey bees, or killer bees will attack when unprovoked and respond en mass to disturbances. European Honeybees will not attack unprovoked and are more mellow when it comes to being disturbed. Both bees die after stinging and their venom seems to be virtually identical.
The Africanized bees are also highly adaptable to changing and unpredictable conditions. These bees swarm more often to areas richer in resources and collect more pollen. They ues resources quickly and efficiently and they reproduce rapidly.
These killer bees have killed more than 1,000 humans and will chase their victims a 1/4 mile or more!
Yikes!
Labels: Africanized, European Honey Bee, Honeybee, Killer Bee, Texas
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Bee Attacks Changing First Responders Attire!
