SAN ANTONIO – Retired father of seven, grandfather of 11, and great-grandfather of five Lawrence Sullivan was cutting his grass two weeks ago when he felt multiple sharp sudden pains.
"Them bees got me. They got me here. And they got me up over there," Sullivan said, pointing to where the bees stung him.
The day after he was stung, one of Sullivan’s friends noticed a beehive in a tree in his backyard. Sullivan called one of his grandsons, who called a friend who in turn called District 2 Councilman Alan Warrick's office.
One of Warrick's staffers found a nonprofit specializing in beehive removal called the American Honey Bee Protection Agency, which is owned by Walter Schumacher.
"For an outdoor beehive, it is quite large, 75,000-100,000 bees," Schumacher said.
One unusual thing about Schumacher’s process is that he doesn't wear any protective gear while working with bees.
"Oh, I'm not afraid. Bees function on electrical impulses and pheromones, things like fear," said Schumacher, speaking calmly as bees swarmed him.
Schumacher said his company removes approximately six large beehives a week in San Antonio. The "bee whisperer" told us his company removes the bees from places where they are unwanted and places them where they are wanted.
"Most of the bees we remove in San Antonio are taken to Seaworld," Schumacher said.
Before hauling off the very large beehive from a tree in Sullivan's backyard, Schumacher shared some of its coveted contents — honey. One-by-one Lawrence Sullivan and his friends and family, who had gathered to watch the beehive come down, tasted the work of 75,000 honey bees.
"The honey's real good. That's what made it, because they bit me and got the sweetness from me,” Sullivan said, chuckling.