Bee attack prompts fight to have hives taken away

FORT LAUDERDALE — Maria Sica and one of her dogs were attacked by a swarm of bees from a hive in her neighbor’s yard three months ago, and she has been trying ever since to get the bees removed.

She even filed a code complaint after she and her dog Randy, a 3-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, were stung during the dog’s bath outdoors. Neither required medical help, but Sica did not want a repeat of the incident.

“Why do I have to live with this fear of being attacked?” asked Sica on Tuesday.

It seems the problem will finally be taken care of this week.

The city’s ordinances don’t deal specifically with bees but code officers cited the neighbor in November under nuisance regulations that don’t allow property to be maintained in ways that “threatens or endangers the public health, safety or welfare.”

It turns out there were two hives in a tree next to Sica’s property line and another swarming hive on the fence between the properties.

The neighbor hired a beekeeper, John Coldwell, who took care of the swarming hive even before Sica complained to the city. In December, he removed another hive closest to Sica’s family home in the 2900 block of North Ocean Boulevard.

Sica was told that removal would solve her problem but she said the bees have This bee hive next to Maria Sica’s yard is scheduled for removal this week. been back in her yard recently.

Coldwell said he plans to remove the last hive this week. He said he would have removed the hive sooner, but he had to coordinate the rental of a lift to reach the hive with a time when winds were under 25 mph in the neighborhood a few blocks from the beach.

“I didn’t perceive the bees at 30 feet in the air to be a public concern,” Coldwell said. “The high hive, technically by code enforcement, doesn’t have to be removed.”

Coldwell told city officials in December that the bees in the high hive aren’t aggressive and “pose no threat to anyone,” according to city records.

Sica said she had never before had a bee problem on the property that her family has owned for 22 years.

However, once stung, forever shy, Sica said.

Her dog reacted with terror when he spotted a bee outside on Tuesday. Sica is afraid to wash her dogs outside because she’s not sure what caused the first attack. It might have been a scent from the dog shampoo she used or maybe the scent from her hair that had been dyed recently, she said.

“I don’t know what turns them on. I didn’t do anything to bother them except wash my dogs,” Sica said.

PHOTOS BY TAIMY ALVAREZ/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Maria Sica and her dog Randy were swarmed while she was giving the pooch a bath in her yard.