There are plenty of grey nomads with a history of allergic reactions to bees who will shudder at the nightmare scenario a long-term pet owner found himself in last week.
Walking down a forest track at Queensland’s Rainbow Beach with his two Dobermans, Bob Butter noticed about 30 man-made beehives … and was then attacked by giant swarms.
He saw bees engulfing his dogs in patches the size of saucers but, with a history of allergic reaction, Bob had no choice but to flee.
He told the Sunshine Coast Daily he took his shirt off and swiped at the swarming bees, losing his glasses as he ran with the dogs to the car.
By the time he got them to a vet, one of the pets was unconscious, defecating and unresponsive.
The two dogs, which had been part of Bob’s family for 14 tears, had been stung more than 600 times each and both died of their injuries. They had suffered neurological trauma, muscle break down, red blood cell rupturing, kidney failure and eventually complete organ shut down. Apparently, bee stings became fatal when there are 24 stings per kilo.
“It’s like losing a family member,” Bob told the Sunshine Coast Daily. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I was going to lose them.”
Bob, who had minor swelling from some stings, questioned why the privately owned bees were on land owned by the Department of Natural Resources.
A minority of people suffer allergic reactions to bee stings and can go into anaphylactic shock. For that reason, some grey nomads travel with an EpiPen.
I would be more concerned with the “30 man-made beehives”on the track. Were they designed to keep people out? while Bob questioned about the privately owned bees were on public land, what was done about it?