A swarm of over 30,000 bees attacked a North Texas couple and their horses last Wednesday, killing both animals and stinging the individuals more than 250 times collectively.
Believed to be Africanized bees, better known as "killer bees," the insects swarmed 44-year-old Kristen Beauregard and her boyfriend as they walked behind their home directly across the street from the Pantego police department.
"They were chasing us down, they were following us," Beauregard told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "It was like a bad movie."
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Seeking immediate shelter from the relentless swarming bees, Beauregard and her partner ran to their pool and jumped in. Their horses, a six-year-old show horse named Chip and a Shetland pony named Trump, reportedly followed them into the water.
"It got all dark, like it was nighttime there were so many bees," she told the Star-Telegram. "We were trying stand up in the water but every time we stuck our heads out for air, they would cover us and start stinging us. We were trying to breathe and they were stinging us in the face and in the nose."
In a separate interview with
NBCDFW.com, Beauregard described the pain she felt during the incident as like having been stabbed with hundreds of knives and torched with a flamethrower at the same time, the local NBC affiliate reported.
Beauregard and her boyfriend eventually managed to get into their house and call 911.
Beauregard, who received over 200 bee stings, and her boyfriend, who received over 50, reportedly watched helplessly from inside their house as their beloved horses flailed around the yard, rubbing themselves against the brush in an unsuccessful attempt to remove the bees from their body.
Firefighters subsequently arrived at the scene, spraying a foam substance to clear the bees from the area while police and paramedics pulled the horses, Chip and Trump, away from the swarm, the Star-Telegram reported.
Chip died shortly after the incident, while Trump died one day later, having been humanely put down at equine veterinarian Patricia Tersteeg's clinic.
"He was so overwhelmed by bites that his body could not handle it," Tersteeg told the Star-Telegram. "That's way too much for any 250-pound mammal to survive."
The bees also killed five hens, and stung the couple's dog, which lived.
The hive containing the 30,000-plus bees was later found in an abandoned shack on a nearby property.
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It is unclear what provoked the bees, which are being sent off to a laboratory to determine whether or not they are Africanized bees.
"I want everyone to know if you see bees on your property it needs to be taken care of immediately," Beauregard told the Star-Telegram following the incident. "We did not disturb the hive. We were nowhere near it."
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