Swarm of Killer Bees Kill Dog in South Florida

A swarm of killer bees attacked and killed a 6-year-old Rottweiler named Ricco Thursday, The Huffington Post reported.

The attack occurred at 3 p.m. when Ricco's owner was giving him a bath. The swarm of bees emerged from a large tree in a neighbor's yard.

The owner said that the killer bees were probably attracted to the smell of the shampoo.

"They started getting on [Ricco] because the shampoo I was using was attracting them to him," Robert Denmark (owner if the dog) said, reports Huff Post. "I didn't know a nest was over there and all of a sudden they just started swarming down and they just covered my face."

Denmark said that he turned the water hose against the bees to prevent them from attacking the dog, but the bees relentlessly stung the animal.

The owner escaped by running to a nearby shed and burning a piece of cloth that he then used to fight the insects.

Denmark then alerted firefighters, who drove away the swarm. Unfortunately, it was a bit too late for Ricco, who died due to the numerous stings.

There hasn't been an investigation into what kind of bees attacked the dog. However, the way the dog was attacked shows that it was done in by a swarm of Africanized honey bees.

"If they killed the dog and they're aggressive, chances are they are Africanized just by their behavior," said Rolando Calzadilla with Bird and Bee Removal, who was called by the neighbor Beatrice Rivera, reports Huff Post.

Africanized bees or killer bees are bees are a result of an experiment gone awry in the 1950s, when Brazilian scientists attempted to make better honey by importing bees from Africa. Over the years, some bees escaped the quarantine zone and mated with local bees.  Colonies of the new Africanized honey bees eventually moved north and have now been spotted in South Florida, according to The Broward Sheriff's Office.

The BSO says that the best way to escape a killer bee attack is to run fast in a straight line away from the nest. Also, these bees can survive in water for longer periods than a human, so avoiding jumping into water is a better way to escape the attack.

Check a video of the story here.