Michael Barber, a beekeeper, awoke Wednesday morning to several calls from police seeking assistance after five million bees fell off a truck in Canada.
The hives were being carried when the straps that held them in place snapped, allowing them to go free.
Mr Barber arrived to find “a pretty crazy cloud of bee” who were “very angry, confused, and homeless.”
Pedestrians were warned to stay away and drivers to keep their windows up.
When he arrived in Burlington, Ontario, Mr Barber had just seen something like it in his 11-year career.
“It was something else,” he explained to the BBC. “I hope I never have to experience it again.”
Mr Barber, owner of Tri-City Bee Rescue in nearby Guelph, claimed he initially received calls from local police at around 07:00 local time (noon GMT) notifying him that an accident resulted in bee hives being dispersed all over the road.
Michael Barber, a beekeeper, awoke Wednesday morning to several calls from police seeking assistance after five million bees fell off a truck in Canada.
Simultaneously, police issued a public alert on social media encouraging people to avoid the area about an hour south of Toronto.
When the catastrophe occurred, the bees were in their hives, stacked on the back of a truck and being transferred to their wintering place.
As soon as Mr Barber received word from the authorities, he contacted fellow beekeepers for assistance. A dozen beekeepers eventually assisted in the capture of the insects.
The bees and their hives, according to Mr Barber, were spread out over a 400-meter (1,300-foot) radius. Some of the younger bees were swarming on neighboring automobiles and mailboxes, as he said they do when seeking safety.
“There were probably a thousand bees on the front of my truck,” he remarked.
Other bee, more aggressive and older, buzzed around.
Mr Barber added that most bees could find their hives after a few hours, but a few hundred bees did not survive the catastrophe.
Some beekeepers were stung as well.
Mr Barber claims that the truck driver was stung more than 100 times because he was not wearing a full beekeeper costume. He was not critically harmed, and paramedics were nearby.
“There were a lot of flying bees that made even beekeepers in full suits nervous,” he explained.
He expressed gratitude to the many local beekeepers who worked to keep the insects and the public safe, and he said that the experience serves as a good lesson to always securely strap your bees.
“I learned my lesson. “Everyone survived, but a few bees were injured,” he explained. “Hopefully, the hives will survive the winter.”
SOURCE – (BBC)
