A man who went shopping in New Mexico came back to find his car was full of bees—thousands and thousands of them.
He called 911, as anyone would do if he returned to a car full of insects.
Fortunately for him, a firefighter who later responded happened to be a beekeeper.
The man’s car had probably been invaded because he left his window down, outside a grocery store in Las Cruces, NM, the fire department said.
“Firefighters were informed that the owner of the car returned from shopping, placed groceries in his vehicle, and started to drive off before noticing the bee swarm in his backseat,” they said.
As luck would have it, one of their firemen, Jesse Johnson, is a beekeeper in his spare time, so he was called upon to come to the rescue, on his day off.
Johnson was able to bring the proper equipment to deal with the bees. It took more than two hours for the bees to be removed.
The crew estimated there were more than 15,000 bees, which were relocated to Johnson’s property, outside city limits.
The department said it does not usually deal with bees, but it needed to act quickly for everyone’s safety.
According to the British Beekeepers Association, swarming is a natural process by which a bee colony reproduces; the old queen flies off with some of the bees.
They leave their old hive and find somewhere to hang in a cluster until scout bees decide on their new home.
Most swarms occur on warm sunny days from May to the end of July, usually between 11 am and 4 pm.
There is often a peak on a fine day after poor weather when temperatures approach the high teens.
A real honey bee swarm can be extremely dramatic, involving many thousands of bees flying in a large, noisy cloud. However, they normally settle into a cluster within 15 minutes.
“One security guard at Albertson’s grocery store was stung, and it is possible a few patrons may have had close encounters, but no major injuries were reported,” the Las Cruces fire department reported.
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