"Killer" Bees Sting 84-Year-Old Man 1,000 Times in Green Valley

1957: Scientists in Brazil accidentally loose 26 African Honey Bee queens into the wild.2009: Arizonans suffer attacks by swarms of "killer" bees.True, the aggressive hybrids aren't quite as bad as depicted in the poster for the 1978 movie, The Swarm. But try telling that to John Pool of Green Valley...

By Ray Stern

July 13, 2009

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1957: Scientists in Brazil accidentally loose 26 African Honey Bee queens into the wild.

2009: Arizonans suffer attacks by swarms of "killer" bees.

True, the aggressive hybrids aren't quite as bad as depicted in the poster for the 1978 movie, The Swarm. But try telling that to John Pool of Green Valley.

The 84-year-old, legally blind man was stung about 1,000 times in an attack on Thursday. Pool's dog died from about 200 stings, says KTAR [92.3 FM]. Pool told the radio station he was walking his dog near his home when some bees began buzzing around him. Suddenly, hundreds zeroed in on the pair. He's expected to fully recover.

As we learned while checking on an April attack in New River, it takes about 10 stings per pound of body weight to kill you.

If you're unfamiliar with Arizona geography, New River's north of the Valley and Green Valley is in southern Arizona.

They've got us surrounded.

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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.