Bees attacked more than fifteen people and killed a dog in Uruguay

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A swarm of several hundred bees attacked 15 people in southeastern Uruguay in a town called Mariscala in the department of Lavalleja. They also killed a dog after stinging it repeatedly.

A neighbor of the area, who lives in the country’s north, had left several boxes with bees in his house. While cleaning, when he arrived home, the bees escaped from the crates and attacked several people near the area.

The mayor of Mariscala, Francisco de la Peña, said that the police arrived with fire extinguishers and fire. Still, it was difficult to repel the insects, according to Telenoche. The fifteen people who were attacked had to be transferred for medical assistance.

The attending physician asked the Lavallleja Prosecutor’s Office to intervene and have the boxes with bees removed from Mariscala. Meanwhile, the mayor asked the departmental authorities to take measures against the neighbor urgently after what happened.

De la Peña said that this was a neighbor’s “irresponsible beekeeping” case. “It was a very atypical accident, it is not common, apparently of irresponsible possession of bees by a person who has a farm here in Mariscala but does not live there; he comes sporadically,” he commented.

The neighbors also filed police reports and told the authorities there was no responsible follow-up of the crates with the bees inside.

One of the victims of the attack said that the four family members were also stung by the bees and that she received an even more brutal blow, being stung by 200 bees. The dog that died belonged to this family. “I was at home, but when I heard the desperate cries of my husband, we went out with my children to help him, and it was terrible,” she said.

BEES IN URUGUAY

Apis Mellifera bees are Uruguay’s native pollinators and other insects and birds. They are increasingly threatened by the effects of human activity, specifically forestry, due to pesticide chemicals placed on plantations.

Despite being a declining activity in the country, beekeeping is currently developed throughout the country, and 70% of it is in the hands of family producers. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the sector has some 542,221 hives and 2,545 beekeepers.

On May 20 of this year, within the framework of World Bee Day, declared by the United Nations, the Minister of the Environment, Adrián Peña, said that “Uruguay has assumed commitments within the framework of its adhesion to the Convention on Biological Diversity. In this sense, it has committed to promoting healthy habitats that are prone to pollinators, including those related to the development of sustainable production, such as agroecology”.

To this end, it recommended measures to conserve areas where pollinators operate. This includes maintaining areas without soil and vegetation removal, promoting plant biodiversity in the agroecosystem, using phytosanitary treatments that do not affect pollinators, and planting a diversity of floral species with staggered planting to provide sustained food over time.

“This is the commitment of the Ministry of Environment, to preserve our ecosystems, to continue working to safeguard biodiversity. Take care today to have tomorrow,” said Peña.