Swarm of Bees in Tree

In what turned out to be a short-term rental, about 9000 feral bees, weighing about three pounds all together, were removed from a tree by New York Police Department bee specialist Anthony Planakis.

Last Wednesday’s removal was just the latest of several similar removals conducted around the city in the past few months. In the Bronx, on April 30th over 7000 hunter bees were taken from a tree located in front of a bodega in the Melrose neighborhood. Earlier in May another group of thousands of hymenopteras were evicted from their temporary home in Astoria, Queens.

While removing the bees without protective clothing Planakis remarked, “It’s gonna be a very busy season. When it rains, they usually stay away and don’t want to be outside. But when the climate changes, they swarm.”

Planakis explained that it’s the queen of the hive that decides it’s time to move, and the rest just follow her lead. That is what Planakis believes happened on Wednesday in The Bowery.

Several onlookers were impressed with the attention the bees were receiving, not just from the spectators, but also from the police.
One bystander, Lance Anderson commented that, “They don’t even send Emergency Service trucks for most crimes. It’s kinda cool.”