Lucky to BEE alive!!

[mc_squared]

'It looked like a bee hive on his head': Pensioner's miraculous survival after being stung 1,200 times by angry swarm

 

 

By Mail Foreign Service

Last updated at 3:40 PM on 15th September 2010

 

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A pensioner is recovering in hospital more than two weeks after he was attacked by a swarm of bees.

Lamar LaCaze was stung 1,200 times while mowing a field in Kyle, Texas.

The 65-year-old managed to climb off his tractor and use his mobile to call his son Trey for help.

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Shocking injuries: Lamar LaCaze lies in a hospital bed in Kyle,Texas, after being stung 1,200 times while mowing a field

 

'I had to spit all of them out so I could breathe. They got up my nose and down in my ears,' said Mr LaCaze as he recovered in hospital.

He said he feared he would die, and added: 'I got so weak from all them stings. My body was already trying to shut down on me I think.'

More...

 

 

• Bug-eyed: The cartoon faces of insects caught in incredible detail
  

 

Trey told how he found his father was slumped over a fence.

He said: 'He was not moving. When I went to pull him out he looked up. His head was black, solid bees. It looked like a bee hive on his head.'

Trey threw buckets of water on his father and a neighbour, Rudy Cisneros, came with a fire extinguisher.

Lamar's granddaughter called 911 and when Kyle firefighters arrived, Trey noted they 'suited up' before spraying the attackers and his father with foam.

Medics who treated him at Seton Medical Center pulled 1,200 of the insects' stings from his ears, nose and mouth in a bid to keep him alive.

 

Danger: Africanised honey bees are also know as 'killer bees' and are hybrids of the African honey bee. They spread from southern Brazil northwards, reaching Texas in 2007

 

Relatives of the retired barber said they believed he disturbed a nest of more than 70,000 bees that they had made in an old water heater.

He is still recovering from the August 31 attack and is covered in bruises but is expected to recover.

Bee attacks typically occur when a hive is swarming, which Africanized bees do much more frequently than European honey bees, according to experts at Texas A&M university.

Attacks can be precipitated by loud noise and vibrations like those made by LaCaze's tractor.

Swarms have been triggered by those activities 'up to 100 feet or more' from the hive and 'pedestrian activity up to 50 feet ' away.

Bees attack the victim's head because they are attracted to animal breath. Other attractants include 'hair, dark colors, new mown grass, citrus-scented candles and perfume.'

'I've heard about these bees, you know, but I never thought about any of them just attacking like this,' Lamar LaCaze says. 'I didn't even see them coming. All of a sudden they were just there.'

 

Swarm: A beekeeper attempts to remove the nest which was disturbed leading to the terrifying attack on Mr LaCaze

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1312178/Kyle-man-stung-1-200-times-bees-Pensioners-miraculous-survival.html#ixzz0zc0D6tL8

[Prince Myshkin]

That pun is a little in bad taste.

[mc_squared]

Bee quiet.:rolleyes:

[Prince Myshkin]

That one less so.

I stand by my first post though.

[The Final Track]

:wreck:

[NumbersGirl]

I've never been stung by a bee. Ever. :|

[Miss Mags]

I've been stung alot :uhoh: most of the time didn't even now I was :laugh3:

but that man ... oh god :sick:

[The Final Track]

We have about 3 bees in the classroom pr. day and we panic about that :blank:

[Miss Mags]

^thats what everybody does :confused: I don't get why they are so scared of them ... bees doen's sting that quick, wasps do... but even if it's a wasp, come one just hold stil for a second and it's gone :dozey:

[mc_squared]

^thats what everybody does :confused: I don't get why they are so scared of them ... bees doen's sting that quick, wasps do... but even if it's a wasp, come one just hold stil for a second and it's gone :dozey:

 

However, killer bees, which were the culprits in this case, are a totally different matter, as they are renowned for attacking swiftly and in great numbers.;)

You should be scared of those for good reason!