Orlando's WESH 2 reports on us fixing an unlicensed beekeepers mistake

We recieved a call this morning from a man who was frantic. A beekeeper spent a couple days performing an Orlando Honey Bee Removal from the foreclosed home next to him, and succeeded only in aggravating the bees so much, that they were stinging this client's dog, son and plenty of neighbors.

WESH-2 news covered us rescuing this neighborhood from these very, very defensive honey bees. It's unknown if they are Africanized Honey Bees ( Killer Bees) but they certainly were angry enough to qualify, just on our observations. Here's a link to a slideshow that was posted on WESH's site. They are running the story on the 11PM news tonight.



WESH beekeeper slideshow

What's particularly unfortunate here are a few things:

1. The listing realtor hired a beekeeper to do the removal. Beekeepers are not allowed to remove honeybees from structures and most landscapes here in Florida, unless they are also Licensed Pest Control Operators. As it's a lengthy and expensive process to obtain and maintain a PC license, most beekeepers who perform bee removals operate outside of the law. The realtor essentially washed his hands of it, stating that he's not a beekeeper and can't do anything. Well, he hired the bloke, who caused this mess, he's responsible, along with the beekeeper..

2. The beekeeper left plenty of hive material lying around, and possibly used wasp spray to control the bees. Bad juju, almost guaranteed to aggravate honey bees.

3. The neighbor's wife is so allergic, that one sting can threaten her life. Most beekeepers get so used to stings, that they poo-poo the severity of sting allergies. One sting can cause a hypersensitive person to physically stop breathing in 2 minutes. Just last week, a pest control operator died, after receiving only 3 stings.  Think this is not serious stuff? Think again.

4. The neighbor's dog was attacked by multiple bees on 2 occasions. The dog was so traumatized, he vomited and had diarehhea. Pets and horses are even more susceptible to Bee and wasp stings than humans. It's quite possible that this pet has suffered internal injury because of the venom's effects.

So, once again, we are faced with improper bee removal in Orlando, and lives have been put at risk. Folks, please, please please, don't hire a beekeeper to perform structural removals in Florida. We have loads of African Honey Bees here, and it's just too risky in many cases to attempt live removals.

Contact us here at We are the experts, as we have well respected Entomologists, Licensed Pest Control Operators and Beekeepers on staff. Call us at 800-343-5317

Richard Martyniak, M.Sc., Entomologist