Swarm of bees kills dog, hurts 2 men in California city

CERES, Calif. – Fire officials say a swarm of thousands of bees killed a dog, injured their beekeeper and prompted a shelter-in place order for a Northern California neighbourhood.

The attack happened in Ceres on Sunday afternoon when the beekeeper was trying to harvest honey from a beehive in his backyard when about 4,000 bees attacked him for an unknown reason.

Ceres Fire Chief Rick Scola tells Sacramento television station KCRA (http://bit.ly/2nR4g6H) the beekeeper was stung many times even though he was wearing protective clothing. He was treated at a hospital and released.

The bees then went to another house, where they attacked two dogs. A pit bull didn’t survive.

Police say the beehive was unsafe to move and that the bees were euthanized to protect the public.

About 45 houses in the neighbourhood were placed on a shelter-in-place order for about five hours.