"Killer" Bees Attack New River Family Barbecue; One Man Stung Hospitalized

A swarm of bees attacked a New River family barbecue Sunday evening, possibly stinging one man hundreds of times. Fifteen people and a dog were stung repeatedly -- the guy stung the most went to the hospital. The dog "took the brunt of it," according to the Daisy Mountain Fire...

By Ray Stern

April 27, 2009

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18478561",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "16759093",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759092",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759094",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        }
      ]

A swarm of bees attacked a New River family barbecue Sunday evening, possibly stinging one man hundreds of times.

Fifteen people and a dog were stung repeatedly -- the guy stung the most went to the hospital. The dog "took the brunt of it," according to the Daisy Mountain Fire Chief, as quoted in the Arizona Republic.

A Channel 5 (KPHO-TV) report quotes a woman as saying her husband was stung 600 times. That sounds like an exaggeration, though a healthy adult without a venom allergy can handle up to 10 stings per pound of body weight before receiving a fatal dose.

Attacks like these are rare, and fewer people die from Africanized bee stings annually than are struck by lightning.

But given the choice, we'd take the lightning.

Become A Member

BEFORE YOU GO...
Can you help us continue to share our stories? Since the beginning, Phoenix New Times has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix — and we'd like to keep it that way. Our members allow us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls.

Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.