Anthony Planakis, better known as Tony Bees, was dispatched to Astoria yesterday to deal with what even he called a “massive swarm,” which he estimates had more than 30,000 bees. “This thing was huge,” he said. “I looked at the guy and said, ‘We’re gonna need a bigger truck.’” It’s like Jaws, but with bees.
Neighbors blamed a nearby beekeeper, who said they weren’t bothering anyone anyway. “It looks very dramatic because you see the bees in one place, but this is the calmest time you’ll ever see the bees.” But Tony had a job to do.
Using a vacuum, he sucked up about 12 pounds of bees, DNAinfo reports, and will move them upstate (not a euphemism, supposedly). “Something like this, timing is of an essence,” Planakis has said of his strategy. “You have to hit them fast and hit them hard. You don’t let them know you’re there.”
It’s all in a day’s work for Tony Bees.
