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Bees Swarm Union Square's Game Stop Store
By
Jen Chung
Published May 24, 2009
Modified May 24, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 24, 2009
Modified May 24, 2009
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If only Game Stop stocked beekeeper outfits in addition to video games: Yesterday afternoon around 2 p.m., thousands of bees decided to hang out outside the store in Union Square. A "bee watcher" told WABC 7, "When I got here, there was already like a thousand bees in there." Employees were left to close the store—with themselves inside and the bees outside—and one worker put up a sign, "Look! ... closed due to bee infestation."
Another bee watcher said, "There's a hive...inside the walls...leading upward...they say somebody's on the way, but they're taking a long time to get here." WABC 7 reports that it "took two hours to get some help...and that was only after [WABC 7] called the police department...who said, call the fire department...who said, call 9-1-1...who said, call 3-1-1..who said, call the mayor's office." Ha! That's brilliant!
A neighbor sprang into action, first trying to use a camera flash to shoo the bees away and then, using a box and bag from the UPS store, started to gather up the bees—he explained to the Post, "It was such a nice holiday. The last thing I wanted was a bunch of people getting stung." The police's bee specialist arrived around 4 p.m. and used the queen bee's scent to ease the swarm away. He said he was taking them to hives upstate.
Previously, a swarm of bees have hunted for real estate on the Upper East Side.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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