Killer Bees Kill Horses and Injure Couple in North Texas
A swarm of over 30,000 bees attacked in North Texas, injuring a couple and killing two horses.
On Wednesday, Kristen Beauregard was exercising her Shetland pony, Trump, when the horse started kicking and jumping. Shortly after, a swarm of bees started stinging them all over their bodies.
"They were chasing us down, they were following us," Beauregard told the Star Telegram of the incident. "We swept up piles and piles of them...it was like a bad movie."
The 44-year-old jumped into the pool to try and escape the bees. The horse followed, but they couldn't brush the bees off -- an estimated 30,000 of them.
"It got all dark, like it was nighttime there were so many bees," she told the news site. "We were trying to stand up in the water but every time we stuck our heads out for air, they would cover us and start stinging us. We were trying to breathe and they were stinging us in the face and in the nose."
Beauregard said she ran into the house as the bees followed her, crashing into the windows. She and her boyfriend, whom she chose not to identify, watched as Trump and a second horse, Chip, were swarmed by the bees.
"It looked like they were moving because they were so covered in bees...It just looked like they were shimmering because the bees were on them and stinging them," she said, breaking into tears.
Six-year-old Chip died even before reaching the veterinarian, while Trump was brought to a vet clinic to be treated. He also died a few days after, on Friday.
"He had so much swelling in his face, he must have kept his face above water to breathe. That's where all the bee stings concentrated," equine veterinary Patricia Tersteeg told the Star Telegram. "He was so overwhelmed by bites that his body could not handle it. That's way too much for any 250 pound mammal to survive."
As for Kristen, she received over 200 stings, while her boyfriend had around 50 stings. She was treated on the scene, with emergency workers pulling out stingers from her body. Beauregard refused to go to the hospital and is now treating herself with Benadryl.
According to the Texas couple, they did not disturb the bees and still have no idea what made them leave their hive. CBS News reports that the bees are now being tested to see if they are Africanized or "killer" bees.