A swarm of bees taking up residence in a CUC light pole on Willie Farrington Drive, West Bay, was set to be smoked out within days.
The bees were to be expertly removed from the cement pole following a complaint to a radio talk show this week by a friend of the resident whose yard the pole is buried in.
It was recommended that the caller contact local bee expert Otto Watler.
Rex Watler, the home owner on Willie Farrington Drive, said he wanted the bees gone after they invaded his home and stung his 17-month-old baby, his niece and her family.
“The house was just full of bees,” he said. He said he knew there were bees in the pole “because the last time CUC linesmen who came to change the streetlight said they weren’t going up there because of the beehive.” He said just this week he again reminded work crew trimming trees about the bees.
“The crew told me not to worry because they had the equipment to take care of the bees. Up until today I had not seen or heard anything more about replacing the light or removing the bees.
Pat Bynoe-Clarke, corporate communications manager for the Caribbean Utilities Company, said the utility was aware of the situation but was waiting to secure the suits and equipment to deal with it. To rid the pole of the bees, CUC crew were to be secured in protective suits and armed with smokers in a bucket lift to reach them.
Otto Watler told the Caymanian Compass he heard the issue being discussed on the radio, but neither CUC nor Rex Watler had contacted him.
He said that, after speaking with Rex Watler by phone, he found out the bees were inside the top of the pole. He suggested trying to rescue the bees but had to wait on CUC consent.
He suggested using his man with the help of a bucket truck to scope out the bees to see how deep the hive was in the pole. If it could be reached, they would rescue it; if not, it would have to be exterminated.
“Bees all over the world are dying out. In Cayman we are losing bees and that is a great loss to the environment, Otto Watler said.
According to Otto Watler, bees living up high usually don’t come down low to sting people, but this time of year bees usually swarm and that might have been the case in the attack, he said.
“When some someone calls about a beehive, I am always prompted to respond because it could end up to be a serious thing. We already lost a couple lives in Cayman from bee stings,” he said.
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