By Todd Glasscock
Mineral Wells Index, Texas
MINERAL WELLS, Texas — The Tarrant County Medical Examiners Office confirmed this week that multiple bee stings caused the death last month of a 65-year-old Soda Springs man.
On June 7, Harry Daugherty was on a riding lawn mower cutting grass at a deceased neighbor’s property on Meadow View Road when he rounded the corner of an outbuilding and disturbed a beehive under the building’s eaves, causing the bees to swarm and attack him.
Daugherty, according to the report, died in the emergency room at Weatherford Regional Medical Center, where he was taken by ambulance shortly after the attack.
No indication was made whether the bees were native or the more aggressive Africanized bees, but according to Palo Pinto County Extension Agent Scott Mauney, the state no longer tests to determine the difference.
He said no matter the species, hives can swarm if disturbed and equipment like lawnmowers that vibrate or create loud noises affects bees and can cause the hive to swarm.
Bees, he added, have seemed much more aggressive of late.
Africanized bees were reportedly involved last September in the death of Nancy Whitehead, 61, of Garner, when she and her husband were cleaning debris from a deck behind Possum Kingdom Chamber of Commerce. Whitehead died at Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth about three weeks after the attack.
The bees were so aggressive in that attack, they continued to swarm as paramedics tried to aid Whitehead and her husband inside the ambulance.
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©2015 the Mineral Wells Index (Mineral Wells, Texas)