Texas Man, 75, Dies After Being Swarmed by Bees While Bulldozing Trees on His Property
Man, 75 years old, was bulldozing trees on his property in Texas when he was attacked by bees, which ultimately resulted in his death.
During the time of the attack, the beehive was located in one of the trees that Bryce Smith was cutting down at his residence in Bedias, which is approximately 80 miles away from Houston. According to KBTX, Smith was stung more than sixty times on his face and many times on his neck.
Someone took the man inside his house and then dialed 911 about the situation. The first responders arrived on the scene and pronounced him dead. “The Bedias community lost a very, very good individual yesterday, a very good man,” said Chris Acord, who serves as the Justice of the Peace for Precinct 1 in Grimes County.
He was a lovely human being, a fantastic parent, and a wonderful grandfather to his children. “He was held in extremely high esteem.” Given the prevalence of bee colonies in the region, the judge urged the community to maintain a state of heightened vigilance.
The gravity of what took place and the fact that anything like this could happen to anyone, but we don’t give much thought to these kinds of things, said Acord.
The Honeybee Scientist at Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Juliana Rangel, stated to the source that it is highly likely that the bees that attacked Smith were honey bees that had adapted to African conditions.
“Africanized bees are a little bit more prone to feeling threatened by any external stimuli than European bees,” said Rangel. “This is because Africanized bees are more likely to be exposed to outside stimuli.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were a total of 788 deaths that occurred as a result of hornet, wasp, and bee stings when the years 2011 through 2021 were included.