Bee experts safely relocate hive after Creedmoor man suffers attack
Bee experts safely relocate hive after Creedmoor man suffers attack
A Creedmoor man is recovering after being attacked by thousands of bees from a hive on his property. Local bee experts arrived to safety relocate the bees to their sanctuary. FOX 7 Austin's Bridget Spencer was there and has the story.
CREEDMOOR, Texas - Freddie Morris Sr. has lived on his Creedmoor property for decades. Over the past several years, he began to notice some tenants on his property...bees
"They’ve been there and they never did bother me. I mowed right by them and everything," said Morris.
Just last week, he was attacked.
"I was mowing the lawn over there and I guess with the noise, they came out of there and got me. One came across my face and I swatted it like that and then that was it, they all came out," said Morris.
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He got to his front door, with the bees following right behind. His family helped him get inside, and immediately to a hospital.
To prevent this from happening again, Morris got in touch with Walter Schumacher, a bee expert who worked to safely relocate the bees to his apiary on Thursday. He said their behavior shows, they were protecting their hive.
"They heard the vibration of the mower somehow, an electrical pulse. They went to attack the motor or whatever was making the sound, and it didn't respond but Freddie responded and they were like, oh ok there is the bear," said Schumacher, of American Honey Bee Protection Agency.
Bees are active during this time of year in Texas, when it's warm outside. Schumacher said the hive was located inside the other house on the property, behind a dresser. Is around six years old and had at least 10,000 bees.
"If a bee hive is there for three, four or five years and you haven't tended or cared for them sometimes they end up getting very angry and when they get large numbers, they can send those large numbers out to defend the hive," he said.
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"People should contact 3-1-1 or something when a bee hive moves in. It's a good thing to have bee hives in your yard, but you need to have them under control," said Schumacher.
As for Mr. Morris, he is glad this was a win-win...the bees get to live and so did he.
After suffering a total loss, when their car caught fire, The AHBPA is now accepting donations to replace their vehicle that they use to transport the bees they collect, to their apiary. If you’d like to donate, please visit ahbpa.org, or call 833-346-6392