Watch CBS News

Thousands Of Honeybees Swarm Parkway North Walkway

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- People passed by carefully when trying to avoid a swarm of thousands of honeybees on the wall of a walkway above the Parkway North.

People living nearby say the bees arrived sometime Wednesday evening.

"I know the African bees be all bunched up like that, too, and they'll attack you if you mess with them," Lamont McCoy of the North Side said, "so you ain't got nowhere to run and they'll get you, you know what I mean."

Fortunately, they weren't killer bees. In fact, they didn't seem aggressive at all.

Bee hunter Jim Abraham was called in to take care of the situation. He says the swarm wasn't really a major threat to people just walking by.

"If they came into direct contact with it, it could be, but we're standing right next to it, I'm putting my hand just inches away from it, and it's not a danger," he said. "That being said, if a child or a pet were to investigate it a little more thoroughly, they could really get themselves hurt."

Abraham used a modified vacuum to suck up the few thousand bees.

As for where the swarm came from, Abraham says it broke off from an existing colony and was looking for a new place to create a hive.

"What they've done here, just like we would on a long trip, they get tired," he said. "Well, they've pulled over, and they are resting."

The bees will be taken to a bee keeper in the area.

RELATED LINKS
Penn Brewery Wall Collapse Exposes Large Bee Hive (5/22/14)
More Local News
More Reports By Sarah Arbogast

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.