Angry bees attack Ramsey man, swarm neighborhood

A Ramsey man trying to maintain his bee colony was attacked by a swarm earlier today, police officials confirmed, causing the bees to fly around the surrounding neighborhood.

The man had been trying to keep bees at a private residence on Martis Avenue, said Glen Karpovich, deputy coordinator of the Ramsey Office of Emergency Management.

A Facebook advisory from the Ramsey OEM added that the beehive was accidentally disturbed at some point.

"The bees are aggressive and have dispersed throughout the area of Martis, Elizabeth, Rose, Refy, Armstrong and Maple," the Ramsey OEM post states. 

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The beekeeper and his wife were stung multiple times and sent to Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, Ramsey Police Chief Bryan Gurney said. The chief suffered a sting in the temple, and several police officers were also stung on the scene, he said.

It was unknown what angered the bees, Gurney said.

"There is a park across the street," the chief said. "I'm very concerned about it. These things are obviously very aggressive."

He added, "We're trying to make a plan to subdue or destroy the hive." 

The OEM post advises travelers to stay out of the area. Additionally, a warning was telephoned to neighbors, advising them to stay indoors and keep their windows shut. 

Frank Mortimer, a beekeeper and president of the Northeast New Jersey Beekeepers Association, said today's bee behavior was unusual. 

"Bees don’t aggressively go around the neighborhood, that’s just not bee behavior," Mortimer said. 

Bees typically fly within a three-mile radius and 30-foot height of the hive, Mortimer added, and stay within 20 feet when they're on the defensive. 

"It's very rare in a managed colony." said Srini Abbaraju, a Park Ridge-based bee remover. "This is the first time I'm hearing somebody calling emergency services." 

Bees can get more aggressive if the hive doesn't have a queen or if the bees were not producing enough honey and are defensive of whatever they had, Abbaraju said.

Raccoons might also go inside a hive and claw bees out, then eat them, which puts the bees on edge, Abbaraju added. 

"If something is pestering the hives and the bees become more defensive, if the person opens the hive without realizing the problem, it's possible they could get out of control," Abbaraju said. 

Antonia Quinlan, a beekeeper from Hudson River Apiary Society, also called the incident "rare," but said bees "do get moody." 

"Start stomping them around or wear perfumes ... that’ll set them off," Quinlan said. "The biggest thing that agitates them is to knock into the hive, upset the hive without using smoke or calming them down."