They pollinate the plants that grow our food. But sometimes nature’s little pollinators can be a menace, especially when they swarm in numbers too big to count.
“Thousands of ‘em,” says Rob Sulzer he came home from work and saw something odd. “I noticed there’s bugs flyin’ around this tree.”
Hoards of bees buzzed in the air and hunkered over a patch of debris on the grass right on the line of Sulzer’s property and land owned by McCarran International Airport near Russell Road and Buffalo Drive.
Rob’s wife, Joan, is allergic to bees.
She says, “It could be a matter of life and death. If I got stung around the face I could go into anaphylactic shock.”
Joan Sulzer was so afraid of bees stinging her she’d walk through her garage instead of up the walk to her front door.
Tim Szymanski, with Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, says let the pros handle the bees.
"You should never attempt to move the hive by yourself. In almost every case where a person tries to do it themselves they end up in the hospital."
Rob called McCarran Airport as did 13 Action News. Within an hour a man from pest control, clad in a bee handling suit, went to work and the bees were gone.
“They came out, they killed ‘em,” says Rob Sulzer.
The couple was sad to see the bees killed. But pest control says that was the safe option.
“I’m glad that I don’t have to worry about it anymore. I’m happy, I’m happy,” Rob Sulzer says.
Szymanski says bees tend to leave you alone unless you get too close to their hives. He says do yourself a favor and check your property for hives. Bee-proof your property by sealing holes on the sides of your home. And put screens over your vents.
