Earl was a small dog , but “he had the biggest personality,” according to Brandyn Tagg, Earl's owner. Tagg was left with a void when the dog died after being stung over 100 times by a swarm of bees last week in Tucson.
He was a 2-year-old loud, lively and obnoxious Chihuahua-Pug mix.
“He was just a big ball of energy,” Tagg said. “The house just feels empty without him.”
On the morning of Sept. 6, Tagg woke up for work just as usual. Every morning, when Tagg left the house around 5 a.m., he would let his four dogs out for a couple of hours until his girlfriend, Brennah Morgan, brought them inside around the time she woke up.
At 8 a.m. that morning, Morgan checked on the dogs, who seemed to be having a good time outside, so she decided to let them out a little longer, Tagg said. Until then, it was a morning like any other.
Ten minutes later, however, Morgan heard the dogs screaming and a dark swarm suddenly covered the backyard.
“The whole backyard just looked like a big dust storm,” Tagg said. “There were tens of thousands of bees out there, and they infested our back wall.”
Three of the dogs made it inside, among them Earl's 5-month-old daughter and his brother from the same litter.
Earl didn't have the same luck. In a matter of seconds, he was cornered by killer bees and couldn't make it inside.
After receiving a call from Morgan, fire crews assisted in taking Earl into the home. Morgan then rushed him to a local veterinary, but he did not survive.
Tagg said Earl was stung over 100 times and his small body could not tolerate the venom, causing his heart to fail.
“My dogs are my family, so it's like losing a member of my family,” Tagg said. “I raised him since he was a puppy. He was my little boy.”
Earl was a cheerful soul and had unusual habits. Tagg fondly remembers he liked to sleep on his back, with his paws up in the air. Sometimes, he would let the tip of his tongue lean out of his mouth to make the pose a little extra adorable.
“He was just a really goofy dog, he was always making us laugh,” Tagg said. “He was the house entertainer for sure.”
His favorite activities included playing tug of war and lying down nex to Tagg with his his head or his paw on top him.
“He was just my little boy, we were together all the time,” Tagg said.
Since his death, Tagg said Earl's absence has also taken a toll on the other dogs.
“(Earl) loved them all,” Tagg said. “You can tell it hit everybody pretty hard. They're a lot quieter now, they kind of just lie on the couch all day now.”
How to keep pets safe from bee attacks
Bee swarm attacks on pets usually become more common around summertime as bees tend to become hungrier and, consequently, more aggressive with fewer flowers around, said Cricket Aldridge with the Arizona Backyard Beekeeper Association.
According to Aldridge, bees sometimes will try to go for pet food to find protein that they would normally get from pollen.
“This is probably the hardest time of the year for pets,” Aldridge said. “If there's no pollen available, like right now, animals get stung when the bees come for their food or their water.”
She said buying substitute pollen and placing it somewhere far away from your dog's food can help keep the bees away.
Bees might also come for water leaks, Aldridge said, so she advised pet owners to check any water sources they have around the house, including air conditioning leaks.
Aldridge said although it is not common for pets to be attacked by swarms of bees, it is important to stay aware.
During a bee swarm attack, Aldridge advised people to try to quickly place a wet cloth or sheet on top of their pet and bring them inside if possible to protect them from getting stung by more bees.
Then, call the beekeepers or the fire department as soon as possible, Aldridge said.
Tagg said he hopes other pet owners are aware this type of incident can happen so they can protect their pets.
“I have been hoping I can raise awareness about this type of attacks because I never knew anything about them, and if I had known about it, I probably wouldn't have let them outside every morning as long as I did.”
Tagg and Morgan cremated Earl and made a shelf for him in their living room where they keep his ashes, his paw print and his favorite toy. A memorial collage of him also hangs on the wall, Tagg said.
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