Just four months after recovering from a fractured spine, a Texas woman endured another terrifying ordeal when she was attacked and stung more than 300 times by Africanized honeybees at a storage facility. Surveillance footage from August 15 shows Rachel Kelly-McKee walking her German Shepherd, Chelsea, through Goose Island Park Storage in Rockport when a swarm suddenly surrounded them. Kelly-McKee believes her dog may have disturbed the colony. “She came in, and I noticed she had a few bees on her. I thought they were honeybees. I said, ‘Don’t bring the bees in here,’” Kelly-McKee told CNN. “The minute we cleared that door, I was just absolutely inundated. She ran one way, and I ran the other way. I ran all around here, swatting and trying to get them off me and screaming.” As she tried to flee, Kelly-McKee became trapped behind an automatic storage gate that could be opened only when triggered by a vehicle. After the facility owner saw what was happening, they remotely raised the gate and allowed her to escape.
Deputy’s quick response prevents tragedy
Aransas County Sheriff’s Deputy Will Newsom rushed to Kelly-McKee’s aid, working with members of the Lamar Volunteer Fire Department, who arrived moments later. “My plan was to roll up and get her into the back compartment of my car, extricate her from the scene and take her down to Lamar Fire Station, where she could receive medical attention,” Newsom told reporters. He grabbed a hose and sprayed Kelly-McKee with water in an effort to drive the bees away. His rapid intervention helped prevent the attack from becoming fatal. The University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources says Africanized honeybees are more defensive than European honeybees and may respond aggressively in large numbers when their colony is disturbed.
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Woman survives more than 300 bee stings
Africanized bees are also known to pursue a target for as far as a quarter of a mile. “One bee sting can be fatal to some people. She suffered more than 300 stings, which is definitely within the fatal range. I knew we had very little time to get her out of that situation and into medical care,” Deputy Newsom said. Kelly-McKee reportedly does not want to assign blame for the incident. Instead, she hopes her experience will remind others to learn how to respond safely around aggressive bee colonies. The Daily Mail has contacted the Aransas County Sheriff’s Department for further information about the attack.
