Swarming bees near the governor’s residence on Seven Mile Beach last week caused the police to set up cordons and restrict access after several people were stung.

The issue with the bees began after a representative of the governor’s office raised concerns about a bee infestation at the governor’s residence in a bathhouse on the property. Troy Whorms, director of the Public Works Department, said a contractor came out to deal with the situation, “but the next morning there were still about 200 bees left, and they became a little more aggressive when they became aware their hive was gone”.

Several people visiting the public beach area beside the governor’s residence were stung by the bees and shortly afterwards the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service responded to the area and cordoned it off to ensure public safety.

In a joint effort with Cayman Bee Farms, Public Works and the Public Lands Commission, the remaining bees were vacuumed up and the threat was removed.

Past bee incidents

Over the years, there have been several serious incidents in the Cayman Islands involving bees. In September 2008, 74-year-old George Sherryl Whittaker, father of local boxer Charles Whittaker, was stung to death near his home on Fairbanks Road.

An article about the incident explained that Whittaker was attacked just metres from his house when a backhoe working on his land struck a bees nest.

Members of the public tried to help the man but could not get to him because he was covered in bees. Neighbours tried to rescue Whittaker, only to be forced back by the bees.

In another incident in May 2010, a dog died after being stung by bees in West Bay.

Karina Leveque was giving her four-year-old pitbull a bath outside her home in Bonsal Crescent in West Bay when they were swarmed by bees. Leveque was also stung about 10 times and her boyfriend was stung more than 50 times as they tried to rescue their dog.

Leveque said the bees had a hive in her shed for some time prior to the incident.

What to do when bees attack

At the time, the Compass reached out to bee expert Harold Wright, owner of Bee Safe, a bee removal company in the United States, who warned people not to stay outdoors once they have been attacked by bees.

“If you’re being stung, run inside, go into your house or into your car. Honeybees can only sting you once, so if you’ve covered in bees, chances are you’ve already been stung by them and those bees will not sting you again.

“Get indoors, strip down and pull the stingers out of your body,” he said.

He warned that staying outdoors meant you remained a target for the bees.

“People get killed because they don’t know what to do,” he said, adding, “Don’t roll around on the ground, don’t jump in a pool, don’t hose yourself down with water outdoors.”

In June 2010, the Compass ran another article with advice from local beekeeper Otto Watler, who said a lot of people don’t know very much about bees and blamed this lack of knowledge as a major factor in attacks.

“For one, bees don’t like pungent smells, and if you go near their hive with cologne on or if you have a foreign scent like garlic of something distinct like that, the bees will move in. The scent created when the woman in West Bay was washing her dog could have been enough to aggravate the bees,” he said.

“If you see a hive of bees, stay away from them,” warned the beekeeper, who pointed out that one thing that concerned him was how some children tend to throw rocks at bee hives, almost instinctively. He said this was something that was extremely dangerous and urged all parents to make sure their children knew enough about the creatures in their environment to avoid getting into serious trouble.

Local company Cayman Bee Farm also offers a service to remove bee hives that are problematic because they are close to homes and residential areas.