East Austin rancher stung by bees more than a hundred times

A rancher in East Austin was stung by a swarm of bees Tuesday after there were reports of two other bee attacks in the Austin area in September.

Cole Lowry was mowing the grass near an old shack on Ranger Cattle ranch when a group of angry bees attacked him. His initial reaction was to swat them away but that only made them angrier.

It wasn't until he could distance himself from the bees that they finally left him alone, swollen and grateful to be alive.

"One of them stung me and it was in the blink of an eye it was like 500,000 were on me. Of course the numbers weren't that high but it felt like it," Lowry said. "Roughly I suffered upwards of like 150 to 200 and I'm not even sure all the stingers are still out."

Monday, a swarm of bees attacked three city contract workers attempting to mow the lawn outside of an abandon home. One of the workers was stung about 100 times and hospitalized.

Bee removal expert Walter Schumacher said about 50,000 bees were on the property. He advises people to avoid swatting.

"When bees attack, if you put your hands at an angle like this and then briskly walk to your car,” Schumacher said.

Lowry said he and his manager are looking into a be removal company to safely extract the bees from the property.