100,000 Killer Bees Attack Park Employees In Florida (Video)

About 100,000 killer bees attacked two Florida park workers, who accidentally disturbed a hive, ABC Action News reported Wednesday.

100,000 killer bees attack workers (Photo: Youtube, ABC)

Rodney Pugh and David Zeledon, employees at Picnic Island Park in Port Tampa, were sent to a hospital after they were swarmed by 100,000 Africanized honey bees, known colloquially as killer bees.

The two men were removing garbage near the entrance of the park when they lifted an old tire that happened to be the hive of the bees. Both of them were stung nearly 100 times. They are, however, expected to recover from the attack.

"It was like a thousand little knives poking me in my body," Pugh told ABC Action News. "My ears were just throbbing with pain. It's the worst feeling, because you just had so many and they wouldn't stop."

According to the California Research Bureau, the killer bee is a highly defensive and aggressive cross between the familiar European honeybee and an African variety imported into Brazil for experimental purposes. This "Africanized" variety was accidentally released into the wild in 1957 and has been progressing northward from Brazil ever since, as much as 300 miles per year. After an unexpected slowing along the southern border of the United States several years ago, killer bees have become established in California.

Although the venom of a killer bee is no more potent than that of a European honey bee, but since the former tends to sting in greater numbers once they perceive threat, the number of deaths from them are greater than from the latter.

Check out a video report from ABC Action News regarding the killer bee attack below: