A North Texas woman is recovering following an attack from a swarm of bees that killed her two horses.
The attack happened Wednesday evening behind a Pantego home in the 2500 block of Miller Lane, directly across the street from the police department.
Kristen Beauregard told NBC 5 she was working with Chip, her prize miniature horse, in the backyard when — unprovoked — thousands of bees swarmed her and the horse. The insects are suspected to be Africanized bees.
The pain from the stings was like being stabbed with hundreds of knives and torched with a flamethrower at the same time, she said. She still has some visible welts on her eyelids from the attack.
Chip quickly became covered with bees and began thrashing wildly around the yard in pain, she said.
She and the horse both jumped into the backyard swimming pool in an effort to escape the bees, but even that provided little relief. The bees hovered above the water and stung Beauregard’s face when she would come up for air, she said.
Eventually her boyfriend, who heard her screams, brought her into the house and called 911.
“I’ve been in Pantego for 26 years, and this is the first time I’ve seen anything like this,” said Police Chief Thomas Griffith, who helped respond to the incident.
Pantego is a town in Tarrant County near the city of Arlington.
Several Pantego firefighters, paramedics and police officers responded to the scene.
Firefighters used foam to douse the bees, while paramedics and police officers wearing only button-up shirts helped Beauregard pull Chip and her Shetland show pony, Trump, away from the swarm.
Chip was stung hundreds of times and his body was covered in welts, Beauregard said. He died from his injuries that night.
Trump initially survived but succumbed to his injuries Thursday.
Emergency responders tried to provide oxygen to the animals using breathing masks and administered epinephrine injections and Benadryl in an effort to stop the swelling, Griffith said.
Beauregard, whom paramedics estimate was stung approximately 200 times, praised the efforts of the emergency crews who risked their lives in an effort to save her and her animals.
A beekeeper removed on Thursday the approximately 6-foot-tall beehive that was home to an estimated 30,000 bees. It was located in a shed about 30 yards from the scene of the initial attack.
Beauregard told NBC 5 that neither she nor her horses did anything to provoke the bees prior to the attack.
She said she had seen some bees going in and out of the shed as early as February and had asked the woman she leases the land from to have an exterminator called in. The work was never done, Beauregard said.
Beauregard said she now encourages anyone who sees bees or a potential hive to have them eradicated to prevent an incident like what happened to her.
