Bee attack kills Liberty County man

Wearing a borrowed beekeeper's mask, Jerry Chapman was in the process of removing the bees when he was attacked. Wearing a borrowed beekeeper's mask, Jerry Chapman was in the process of removing the bees when he was attacked. Photo: Cleveland Advocate Photo: Cleveland Advocate Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Bee attack kills Liberty County man 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A 74-year-old Liberty County man died after he was attacked by what are believed to be Africanized honey bees while on a hunting lease in Uvalde County, Texas.

Jerry Chapman and his wife of 52 years, Frances, of Hardin, were at their hunting lease over the Labor Day weekend when the attack occurred.

Frances says the bees had been discovered inside an exterior compartment of their fifth-wheel travel trailer. They had entered the compartment through a small screw hole. Jerry donned a borrowed beekeeper's mask and was in the process of removing the bees when he was attacked.

"The bees must have found a way to get into the mask. He started running and threw the head gear off and ran to our truck and got inside, but they were all over his bee suit," Frances said.

Trapped inside the travel trailer with a swarm of bees surrounding it, Frances called her husband's cell phone and asked what she could do to help.

"He said, 'Baby, don't go out there, don't go outside,'" Frances recalled. "I could hear him fighting off the bees inside the truck."

When the phone went dead, she called him back to urge him to drive the truck to a neighboring hunting camp where he could seek help. She heard the truck start and pull away as she remained huddled inside the camper.

A little while later, she said hunters from a neighboring camp arrived to help.

"Three hunters came running up to the door of the trailer and said to quickly gather my purse and whatever else I needed. Then we ran to their vehicle," she said.

She found out that her husband had been driven to a hospital in Uvalde, where it was decided that he would be airlifted to a medical center in San Antonio.

"When I got to the hospital and saw my husband, I couldn't believe what I was looking at. The bee stingers were just poking out all over the place on his hands and face," Frances said. "The doctors said he had been stung as much as a thousand times by the bees. He had so much toxic poisoning in him that they put him on dialysis twice but his kidneys finally shut down. There was nothing more they could do."

Chapman died Sept. 7, four days after the attack. He was a father to two sons, grandfather to seven children and great-grandfather of three.

In his community, Chapman is being remembered for his years of service as a Mason. He was a member of the East Houston Masonic Lodge #1299 for 29 years and became a dual member of the Batson Lodge #974, where he was chaplain. He also was a 25-year member of the Arabia Shriners.

Retired at the time of his death, he had worked for Amoco Oil for 33 years as a crane operator.

Frances said she hasn't returned to the travel trailer in Uvalde but was told the bees were eradicated after the attack.

Deadly bee attacks uncommon

Africanized honey bees, often referred to as killer bees, are actually hybrids.

"People think of them as killer bees but they are not. The Africanized term means they are a hybrid of the African bee and the European honeybees," said Cameron Crane of Liberty County Beekeepers. "They have some portion of the gene of the African bee but they also have European genes."

Of the two genetic strains, the European bees tend to be more docile while the Africanized bees are aggressive and known to attack with minor provocation.

"You can't tell them apart by physically looking at the bees. The only way to tell them apart is through genetic testing," Crane said.

Most often, it is the behavior of the bees that is most telling. The European bees, when provoked, will follow a perceived threat for 20 yards or so until returning to the hive. Africanized bees are known for following a perceived threat for a quarter-mile or so. A victim will get tagged by one or more of the bees with an alarm pheromone, which can be removed by bathing or changing clothes.

Jumping into water to avoid bees is never a good option, said Crane, because the bees will linger in an area longer than the victim can hold his or her breath.

"On a regular hive with European bees, when you upset the bees, you might have two dozen bees come after you, usually not even that many. But when you disturb an Africanized hive, you will have hundreds and possibly thousands of bees coming after you," Crane said.

In Liberty County, and the neighboring Chambers, Hardin and Jefferson counties, activity of Africanized bees is rare, according to Crane, in large part due to the number of beekeepers in the area.

"Hive keepers are constantly introducing good genetics to their hives and keeping the African genetics pushed out," he said.

While areas closer to Houston might not seem more likely places to find Africanized bees, Crane said the opposite is true.

"In areas where beekeeping is limited, such as suburbs and around chemical plants, there is an increase in Africanized hives," he said.

Genetics of a hive can change quickly, so it is important for apiarists to closely monitor their hives for changes in behavior, according to Mary Reed, apiary inspector for the Texas Apiary Inspection Service (TAIS), part of Texas A&M University's AgriLife Extension Service.

"It's uncommon for people to be killed by bees but every year there is usually a death or two of a dog or horse from honeybee issues," Reed said. "The human victims are typically the elderly or the very young and those who go into anaphylactic shock. They are the most vulnerable."

Honeybees are resourceful creatures who can gain entry to a home, business or outbuilding through small access points, but people can limit their risk by sealing holes in their structures as quickly as possible.

"We try to encourage people to regularly survey their property. Make sure there are no cavities where bees can build up. If there are cavities in your structure, seal them up quickly so this doesn't become a problem," Reed said.

Some of the areas in which bees are known to build hives are abandoned vehicles, empty containers, fences, lumber piles, manholes, water meters, utility boxes, old tires, trees, garages, walls, chimneys and crawl spaces.

"I did a bee removal of a hive once that was built coming down from a mattress that was being stored in a shed. It was a magnificent hive but it couldn't stay in the shed," Reed said.

When removal isn't possible, terminating the hive might be the best option, particularly when there is a risk of humans being attacked by the bees.

"I hate the thought of terminating a hive, but when human life is at risk, I make it clear to people they should not hesitate to terminate the hive," said Reed, though referring the person to a bee removal expert is always her first suggestion.

For a list of apiarists who offer bee removal services, go to http://txbeeinspection.tamu.edu/