A New Mexico man was surprised to find that over 15,000 honey bees had swarmed the inside of his Buick Century after he left the window open while he was inside a nearby supermarket.
According to The New York Times, the man left his window down as went into an Albertsons supermarket in Las Cruces, New Mexico for about ten minutes last Sunday afternoon. He then got back in his car and began driving down the road when he realized that a swarm of roughly 15,000 bees had entered his vehicle while he was shopping. Unsure what to do, the confused Buick Century driver decided to call 9-1-1 and report the incident.
Via Las Cruces Fire Department
A volunteer firefighter named Jesse Johnson, who just so happened to be a hobbyist beekeeper, responded to the call, hopeful that he could remove the bees from the vehicle without harming them. He then started putting the bees in empty hive boxes, attracting them with the scent of lemongrass oil, before loading the hive boxes into his truck and driving them over to his property. Johnson told The New York Times he has around four beehives at his house already and will be integrating this swarm of bees into his existing colonies.
Via Las Cruces Fire Department
So why did 15,000 bees suddenly enter this man’s vehicle? Johnson said that swarming bees will follow a queen to move from one hive to another and this swarm decided to use the man’s car as a temporary shelter. Bees are apparently “pretty docile,” when they are swarming as they are in the process of finding a new home, so the Buick owner wasn’t at too much risk of getting stung or attacked. Unsurprisingly, though, he was sure to keep his distance while Johnson relocated them.
No bees or humans were harmed in this incident, Johnson said – though one of his colleagues did get stung on the lip.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more Buick Century news, Buick news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
Perhaps if the owner had cleaned the bird poop and dirt off his car the bees wouldn’t have mistaken it for a tree!
I guess the Dodge Super Bee parked next to it had its windows closed.
Saw this headline in Jalopnik and ignored it. Reading it here, I know it’s real :). The vehicle appears to be a ’89-’96 Century, but man, the southwest sun sure does a doozy on paint jobs. Glad no one was injured, including the bees.
I guess the hive would really rather have a Buick.
I have a Buick and love it, If my Mom drives it I always ask her to 🐝 BEEEE Careful driving it. Also Bees love Buick’s because of the simple components needed to operate the car. Bees can take the shape of a human and are able to drive the car, the only issue Bees have ( from what I been told ) is pressing the brake required to place the gear selector into Drive. They are very careful drivers
Glad the bee keeper made the ending a good one. I was at a car show, cruise-in recently and the bees swarmed a tree next to the cars. Bees didn’t bother us and we left tem alone.
One news aggregator site described this as a horrible, life-threatening, terrifying incident. I knew that was nonsense.
As for anyone who keeps bees: how do you remember all of their names? /JK
A police officer once saw a car full of bees careening on the highway. When the officer pulled the driver over, he admitted he was a little buzzed.
OK, I’ll see myself out now.
I was sure to tip my waitress…
He left the vehicle jammin the Bee Gees with left over honey nut cherrios in the back seat. Thank God he’s okay. That was alot of hungry bees!
No bees or humans were harmed😅!?? Bees do die after they sting so there’s one dead bee and I would think getting stung on the lip is also no fun 👄
His milkshake brought all the bees to his car.
This reminds me of the movie Tommy Boy. Enjoy this 1 min clip!
https://youtu.be/mUR14_ry1Zo
is hemp alkaline