This is what I would term a vivid account; screaming for his dead wife while he was being attacked is an especially poignant detail:
A Cape Coral man was hospitalized Monday morning after he was attacked by a swarm of angry bees, and his daughter doesn't know whether he's going to live.Jeffrey Brauner, 47, was working in the backyard of the home he shares with daughter Amber Koester, 30, at 2213 SW 1st Ave. The house is behind Cape Coral High School.
Koester said she awoke to hear her father screaming for her late mother. She said she could hear the humming as she approached the front door. When she opened it, she found her father covered with bees.
Horrified, she slammed the door and dialed 911. Koester is allergic to bees.
Firefighters arrived immediately and sprayed water on Brauner to try to remove the bees, Koester said. It didn't work. They had to strip Brauner's clothes and, with gloved hands, to get the bees off of him.
"I've never seen bees so aggressive in my life," Koester said.
The bees may have been Africanized, a highly aggressive strain of bees sometimes known as "killer bees."
Keith Councell, the bee keeper called in to remove the hive, said he is sending DNA samples to two different labs to find out.
Councell estimated the hive — some 3-feet by 2-feet in dimension — was home to 40,000 to 50,000 bees.
"Just the comb alone filled two five gallon buckets," Councell said.
Koester said she didn't know her dad's prognosis. Around 2:30 p.m., she was still waiting more details on his condition. She did know he was on a ventilator.
Brauner was already terminally ill with cirrhosis, the same condition that claimed his wife two years ago. Koester said he was expected to live for a few more years.
"I think I'm just in shock right now," Koester said.
Between the killer bee swarms and the killer alligators, gardening in South Florida is becoming a risky proposition.
Posted by floridacracker at January 8, 2007 06:49 PMI bet the red ants on my place could kick those bees asses
Posted by: the real Nancy at January 8, 2007 07:59 PMIt's like I've been saying for years --
Instead of worrying about "climate change", and trying to pass a law against the weather, we should be passing laws against KILLER BEES.
My understanding is that africanized bee's aren't actually africanized. They still share the genes of both the african specie's and the more calm european breeds, it's just that the queens with the african instinct are able to kill off their competitors before they get out of the pupa stage.
So, we should be allowed to look at the genomic differences between "africanized" bees (cuz I also understand that "africanized queens" still produce more mild european style queens) and then just start screwing with it.
The concern wouldn't be the creation of a "Them" because if you just randomly screw with the genome, the result is spontaneous destruction during gestation.
True, we will engage in specicide/genocide (truly genocide) by killing of affricanized bee's, but we would have replaced an unnecessary genetic tendency (aggression through the sensation of CO2, which is in fact useless, since most animals that actively seek out honey are highly agressive, and do not retreat from stings, and are not permanently harmed by them other than Humans with an unfortunate pre-disposition for allergy)with one that will IN FACT! promote their procreation since we loves us some bee's especially the argi-horti blahti blahti culturalists. (but not the multi-culturalists, they kinda hat that stuff)
I'm just sayin.
Create a fake pheremone imbedded with a bee related contagion or food, and pack it with anti african genomic viruses/viri? whatever.
I'm sure thats illegal though, and of course would take several years, if not decades, but I support it anyways. Bee's are too integral in our food production to allow them to become hair trigger human killers.
Posted by: Wickedpinto at January 8, 2007 10:57 PMJust last night I read a blog post (sorry, don't remember which blog) about "killer" bees in New Orleans.
It seems the abandoned, once flooded houses are a perfect place for their hives. I believe they mentioned St. Bernard Parish being the starting point.
My question is... Why do they hate us?
Should we not look in the mirror and ask ourselves why they attack us? What have we done to bring this rage upon us?
Seriously, I pray for this man and his family. Just thought this post and the other one (may have been WizBang) was a good metaphor for the whole killer jihad thing.
They want to kill us because we exist, and are not them. Kill them or they kill us. I bet they didn't try to negotiate with those bees.
OT: Hello Wickedpinto. Are you "the" Wickedpinto from Ace of Spades comment section fame?
Also, hello to real nancy and rg, and of course...Donnah.
Posted by: AmeriDan at January 9, 2007 01:26 PMAs far as I know I'm the only one willing to take the title AmeriDan.
Posted by: Wickedpinto at January 11, 2007 01:52 AM