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Bees swarm Alamo Beach man
By CHARLYN FINN
A 67-year-old Alamo Beach man was admitted to Memorial Medical Center Sunday with over 100 stings from his head to his waist.
John Tackett, five-year resident of LaJoie Road at Alamo Beach, was released Monday afternoon with only mild swelling despite the multiple bee stings received during an attack Sunday.
“I am feeling great today, thanks to our hospital here (Memorial Medical Center),” Tackett said. “They spelled me all night giving me steroids to make the swelling go down.”
Tackett learned later there were two nests of the bees under his trailer home. He was cutting down some tall weeds around 6 p.m. so he could finish the skirting around his trailer.
When he was three yards away, apparently the noise and vibration from his tractor/mower provoked the bees and they started attacking Tackett.
“When I got within three yards of them they started swarming,” Tackett said. “I ran around to the end of the trailer yelling. When my wife Bobbie saw me my head was completely covered. She couldn’t see my hair or ears.
“I was afraid to go inside but my wife was smarter than me. She kicked open the screen door, yanked me inside and got me back to the bathroom. There she washed my head and torso off with a shower hose. Our bathtub was covered with dead bees.”
The Tacketts were concerned because four years ago he had surgery for a heart valve bypass. They called Emergency Medical Service that transported him to the hospital. On the way to town the medic pulled 60 stingers out of Tackett’s head and there were still more stingers in his head when he arrived at MMC.
“In the emergency room they pulled out another 50 stingers,” Tackett said. “Others were pulled out of my torso. I was stung from my waist to my head.”
The Magnolia Beach Volunteer Fire Department was the first responder. Bonnie Bailey of MVFD said she had nothing to kill bees with and could not get to the Tacketts’ house because it was completely swarmed with bees.
She contacted the Port Lavaca Fire Department that used a wasp spray to kill the insects, according to Fire Chief Brandon Bancroft. The PLFD also gave Bobbie a list of beekeepers to call as they have the expertise for killing bees.
The fire department personnel thought the insects might have been yellow jackets. However, Chief Bancroft said his staff did not have a chance to talk to Tackett because EMS had already transported him to MMC. “They may have been bees,” he said. “Yellow jackets are also mean.”
Africanized honey bees came to Texas from Brazil in the 1990s. They are aggressive in defending their colonies. They have been known to seriously sting or kill pets, livestock and humans.
The bees nest in many areas such as trees and shrubs, wood piles or trash piles, flower pots, old tires, ground holes, chimneys, storage sheds, wall cavities, attics and crawl spaces, roof overlap and building eaves, underground utilities, water meters and sprinkler control boxes and evaporative coolers.
The United States Department of Agriculture warns that the bees are prone to attack when there is vibration, noise or motion within 50 feet of their nests. They dislike the sounds that are made by tools such as lawn mowers, leaf blowers or hedge trimmers. Odors can aggravate them including freshly-cut grass or citrus. Africanized bees will pursue people or animals as far as one-quarter mile and will remain agitated for up to eight hours after they are disturbed.
Yellow jackets are small wasps similar in appearance to honey bees and are often mistaken for honeybees. All females are capable of stinging.
Yellow jackets are also bold and aggressive and if provoked can sting repeatedly and painfully.
John Tackett, five-year resident of LaJoie Road at Alamo Beach, was released Monday afternoon with only mild swelling despite the multiple bee stings received during an attack Sunday.
“I am feeling great today, thanks to our hospital here (Memorial Medical Center),” Tackett said. “They spelled me all night giving me steroids to make the swelling go down.”
Tackett learned later there were two nests of the bees under his trailer home. He was cutting down some tall weeds around 6 p.m. so he could finish the skirting around his trailer.
When he was three yards away, apparently the noise and vibration from his tractor/mower provoked the bees and they started attacking Tackett.
“When I got within three yards of them they started swarming,” Tackett said. “I ran around to the end of the trailer yelling. When my wife Bobbie saw me my head was completely covered. She couldn’t see my hair or ears.
“I was afraid to go inside but my wife was smarter than me. She kicked open the screen door, yanked me inside and got me back to the bathroom. There she washed my head and torso off with a shower hose. Our bathtub was covered with dead bees.”
The Tacketts were concerned because four years ago he had surgery for a heart valve bypass. They called Emergency Medical Service that transported him to the hospital. On the way to town the medic pulled 60 stingers out of Tackett’s head and there were still more stingers in his head when he arrived at MMC.
“In the emergency room they pulled out another 50 stingers,” Tackett said. “Others were pulled out of my torso. I was stung from my waist to my head.”
The Magnolia Beach Volunteer Fire Department was the first responder. Bonnie Bailey of MVFD said she had nothing to kill bees with and could not get to the Tacketts’ house because it was completely swarmed with bees.
She contacted the Port Lavaca Fire Department that used a wasp spray to kill the insects, according to Fire Chief Brandon Bancroft. The PLFD also gave Bobbie a list of beekeepers to call as they have the expertise for killing bees.
The fire department personnel thought the insects might have been yellow jackets. However, Chief Bancroft said his staff did not have a chance to talk to Tackett because EMS had already transported him to MMC. “They may have been bees,” he said. “Yellow jackets are also mean.”
Africanized honey bees came to Texas from Brazil in the 1990s. They are aggressive in defending their colonies. They have been known to seriously sting or kill pets, livestock and humans.
The bees nest in many areas such as trees and shrubs, wood piles or trash piles, flower pots, old tires, ground holes, chimneys, storage sheds, wall cavities, attics and crawl spaces, roof overlap and building eaves, underground utilities, water meters and sprinkler control boxes and evaporative coolers.
The United States Department of Agriculture warns that the bees are prone to attack when there is vibration, noise or motion within 50 feet of their nests. They dislike the sounds that are made by tools such as lawn mowers, leaf blowers or hedge trimmers. Odors can aggravate them including freshly-cut grass or citrus. Africanized bees will pursue people or animals as far as one-quarter mile and will remain agitated for up to eight hours after they are disturbed.
Yellow jackets are small wasps similar in appearance to honey bees and are often mistaken for honeybees. All females are capable of stinging.
Yellow jackets are also bold and aggressive and if provoked can sting repeatedly and painfully.
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