Cop shoots hive, bees attack cops

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Here’s a gun safety tip: Never open fire on a beehive, especially one inhabited by ‘killer’ bees. The Associated Press, reporting from Mexico City, tells what happened:

At least 70 police officers were hospitalized after so-called Africanized bees swarmed a police shooting range in southern Mexico, authorities said Tuesday.

The attack occurred Monday in Tapachula, Chiapas, after one of the policemen hit the bees’ hive with a bullet, local police officer Miguel Serrano said Tuesday. At least 10 of the 70 officers stung were in serious condition, he said.

‘It was really bad. I haven’t seen anything like it, even in the movies,’ Serrano said.

Africanized bees, a fierce hybrid strain sometimes referred to as killer bees, are the result of an experiment to increase honey production in Brazil. A swarm escaped a lab in 1957 and began heading north.

UC Riverside maintains a website with useful information about Africanized bees and bees in general.