Police Called To Remove Large Swarm Of Bees On West 72nd Street
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police officers and beekeepers removed a swarm of bees from a block of West 72nd Street Monday afternoon, after the bees took over part of a tree.
The bees were found in a tree branch over a car on 72nd Street between Broadway and West End Avenue, police told CBS 2.
As WCBS 880's Monica Miller reported, Ronald Jackson was on his way to get something to eat when he noticed some police activity.
Police Called To Remove Large Swarm Of Bees On West 72nd Street
"I saw the big crowd gathering, and that's a very big hive, you know, and that's not like a normal-sized hive," Jackson said.
Police shut down pedestrian traffic near the tree as NYPD Detective Anthony Plankis caught the queen bee.
"She's in the box right now, and these are going to be relocated to another hive somewhere in Manhattan," Plankis said.
Plankis is the official beekeeper for the NYPD, and while some people might be stung by the very notion, he loves his job.
"It's great," he said. "It really puts you in tune with nature."
It was not immediately learned exactly how many bees were estimated to be in the tree, or where they came from.
This was at least the third swarm of bees that made headlines in the city in recent weeks.
This past Wednesday, police shut down Montrose Avenue between Lorimer and Leonard streets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, after a swarm of 24,000 bees landed on the block around noon, according to a DNAInfo report.
The bees landed in a tree and migrated to the ground, the publication reported.
On May 7, the NYPD rounded up thousands of bees that were found swarming all over a block of 28th Street in Astoria, Queens. In that case, police and neighbors said that the bees came from a series of rooftop hives belonging to a local homeowner.
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