An Australian woman was fearing for her husband’s life after the hobbyist beekeeper suffered an allergic reaction from being stung several times by foreign bees he was trying to relocate.
An ambulance took Robert McNair to Royal Adelaide Hospital after the incident at the garden of his family home in Black Forest, a southern suburb of Adelaide, southern Australia.
His wife Helen Eddy told broadcaster 7NEWS: “I just thought this is it, he’s gonna die.”
The 69-year-old amateur apiarist attempted to remove a swarm of foreign bees that had invaded his hive.
The pensioner was stung more than a dozen times. He lost consciousness and collapsed after suffering anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction.
Robert – who is back home and doing fine after spending one night at the clinic – explained: “I had a suit on but I obviously hadn’t done it up correctly.”
He added: “We had this one swarm that obviously didn’t respond too well to me moving it so I got stung.”
Susan Lonie is the vice president of the Society of Beekeepers in South Australia. She told 7NEWS: “If you try and do something to them, they are going to be upset and annoyed. They are likely to sting you, that’s what bees do.”
Robert underlined the incident would not stop him from engaging in apiculture. However, he urged fellow beekeepers but also any citizen discovering a colony at their property to seek professional support when it comes to relocating the insects.
