[Humor]
Winnie the Pooh was a bear with a problem. In his more innocent time, Pooh was lucky to live in a sympathetic community of lifelong friends. So, there was no talk of “interventions” or “rehab.” Friends just helped Pooh cope an uncontrolled urge to eat honey.
Pooh got a friend a present – a pot full of honey. But when Pooh went to give the friend the gift . . . well . . . by the time Pooh arrived at the friend’s home, the gift was just a pot. If Pooh came over to your house for dinner, the honey jar intended to feed all your guests would turn-up empty right after Pooh helped himself. When you went into your pantry for more, you’d find those containers empty too!
The members of Pooh’s community seemed to be both willing and able to deal with their friend’s “problem.” But not everyone wasn’t so sympathetic. There were a few who had little sense of humor about having their honey stolen. And, honey theft even provoked more anger if you threatened to eat the owners with the honey! These were honeybees. With them, Pooh met his match as memorialized in the 1967 Disney film, “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.”
The bees themselves “removed” Pooh from their hive. The bear and Christopher Robin fled the pursuing swarm. They only reached safety when they jumped into a large mud puddle – where they waited until the swarm of bees left.
Apparently, not everyone understands that this is more than a children’s story. It’s a warning. If you want some honey, there’s a right way and wrong way to go about getting it. And, if you decide to get some honey from a beehive, you’ve got to deal with the bees – which means you must “tread carefully.” Wearing protective clothing . . . or . . . using a smoke gun (bees are a bit stunned by smoke) . . . or, if you’re a beekeeper, harvesting the honeycombs from a specially designed hive.
Do NOT go over to the nearest hive and try to “help yourself.”
Some readers may find this warning almost insulting. They might say, “Who would ever do anything that foolish?” “Everyone knows not to do anything like that!”
You’d think so, but . . .
On Sunday, 5 April 2015, in Port Richie Florida, three men decided they wanted some honey. Noticing a large beehive in a nearby tree, they approached it, reached out, and broke off one of the hive’s large honeycombs. The bees were unhappy with this turn of events and did what bee do. They stung.
The "Lifted" Honeycomb
The police were called when neighbors heard the men screaming and saw them on the ground covered with bees. Firefighters arrive and sprayed the men with water to remove the bees. All three were transported to an area hospital with about 50 bee stings each. The only other injury was to a woman who came out of her home in response to the honey robbers’ screams and approached too close to the hive. She received about 12 stings and was briefly treated at an area hospital and released.
There was quite a buzz in the neighborhood and the media. Early reports suggested an “unprovoked” attack by the bees, but as the facts bear out, the bees were quite “provoked.” Then, the bees were rumored to be Africanized Killer bees. They weren’t. These were just plain old honeybees. Then, news reports included the prediction that the hive would destroyed. It wasn’t.
The Hive
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