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Coweta K-9 cops pivot to remove bee swarm on SUV

"He was a bee charmer. He had on his equipment. And he just walked right over and got everything taken care of. Just so calm about it," Wilkins said.
Credit: Coweta County Sheriff's Office

NEWNAN, Ga. - Atlanta’s suburbs are rife with unexpected encounters between wild animals and human residents.

There was one Monday – thousands, actually – in Newnan that required police intervention.

"We were like, what is that on her car? We at first thought it was mud," began Kesha Wilkins, describing her animal encounter.

Something was seriously amiss with the Nissan Armada driven by her boss, Newnan dentist Kimberly Chubb.

"Until we got close," Wilkins said. "I saw that it was actually a swarm of bees. On her car."

Honeybee colonies swarm pretty regularly as it’s part of their reproductive process. When one such swarm found its way onto the dentist’s SUV, Wilkins and her coworkers decided to call 911.

Enter Coweta Co. Sheriff's Deputy Adam Montgomery. Normally, he’s a K-9 handler.

"There was, in fact, a swarm on the car," Montgomery told 11Alive News.

Montgomery says he is also a state certified beekeeper.

"He was a bee charmer. He had on his equipment. And he just walked right over and got everything taken care of. Just so calm about it," Wilkins said.

Montgomery tended to the swarm of honeybees, removing the mostly-docile bees to a temporary hive. His partner Deputy Kevin Keeble, another K-9 handler, snapped photographs and assisted, reluctantly.

"When he got the call, he asked me if I wanted to help him. And at first, I was like, absolutely not," Keeble recalled. "Next thing I know I’m standing over the hive with him getting these bees."

Montgomery says the bees could have tried to build a colony in the SUV.

"I’ve seen bees set up a colony in old tractors and farm equipment. If something is sitting and it doesn’t move, they’ll set up a colony."

RELATED | Beekeeping Ga. deputies save swarm settling on SUV

Montgomery says he got the bees into a hive box and put the new temporary hive in his partner’s backyard.

"I went from waking up yesterday morning having no interest in bees to waking up this morning and now I have a beehive behind my house," Keeble said. "I caught the bug, I guess."

Mongomery says the department did not consider putting the hive in the Newnan City Park which will host a neo-Nazi rally Saturday.

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