An Arizona man and his dog are recovering after being stung hundreds of times by a swarm of 1,000 killer bees.
Saturday night’s ordeal only ended when they were hosed down by their neighborhood firefighters.
John Fischer, 60, who lost one of his legs to an infection around eight years ago, was on his wheelchair exercise bike, with his dog Pippin by his side, when they were attacked.
Surveillance video obtained by Arizona family showed the heartbreaking moment the bugs went after the pair, causing Fischer to topple over in his chair as he crawled around trying to escape.
Later, when he shook out his clothes for the day in front of the cameras, dozens of bees poured out. There was one still alive, but Fischer ran him over with his wheelchair – in a moment of apparent retaliation.
Fischer ended up with bites on his arms, eyes, mouth, ears, legs and back, as well as scratches from crawling on the floor. He was released from hospital on Monday and is recovering at home with his dog.
John Fischer, 60, and his dog Pippin are recovering after being stung hundreds of times by a swarm of 1,000 killer bees in their Arizona neighborhood on Saturday night
Fischer told Arizona Family that he had “never experienced anything like this before.”
“I had been stung several times before, but nothing more than 10 or 15 stings,” Fischer said of the attack.
“There was a part of me that wanted to freak out, and there was a part of me that wanted to freak out. And I knew from past experience that’s where you’d lose your mind. And you’re out of control. C This is where you are in more danger,” he added.
Fischer was in his wheelchair for a walk in Florence, Arizona, when he said he smelled what he thought was a fly and pushed it away.
“Next thing I know there were bees all over me and the whole dog,” Fischer said.
“I tried to cross the street, but I can’t see because they’re going towards my eyes, and they’re all over my face.”
Surveillance video obtained by Arizona Family showed the harrowing moment the bugs went after the couple, causing Fischer to topple over in his chair as he crawled trying to escape
Fischer was left with bites to his arms, eyes, mouth, ears, legs and back and was only saved when firefighters hosed him down
He was able to free Pippin, who had been tied to his wheelchair, and the dog ran to Fischer’s neighbor.
But the chair tipped over and Fischer tried to escape on his hands and knees.
“I crawled for a while trying to get away from where they were, but of course they followed me,” he said.
Firefighters showed up to help Fischer, but were seen on video running away from the swarm of bees. They came back moments later and hosed down Fischer.
He was taken to hospital, where Fischer said doctors told him he had been stung more than 250 times by “killer bees”.
He said Pippin had been bitten more than 50 times and had since been released by an animal hospital, but was still in poor condition.
“He’s sick,” Fischer said. ‘We try to get him to drink. He is very sore, and what I can see is that he is quite lethargic. We also give him Benadryl, so it will knock him out.
He started a GoFundMe to help raise funds to help with the dog’s veterinary expenses.
