Honeybee Hive In Inwood Park Blamed For Kids' Stings: Report

INWOOD, NY — Parents are blaming honey bee colonies in an Inwood community garden for bee stings suffered by children and pets in a nearby park, but beekeepers insist their bees are peaceful, according to reports.

Inwood resident Matt Corcoran's 3-year-old son had to be taken to the hospital after being stung 10 times by yellow jacket wasps while playing in Isham Park at the end of September, the New York Post reported. Since the attack, the father has pointed fingers at bee colonies living in nearby community space Bruce's Garden, calling the professional beekeepers who maintain the hives "hipsters."

"I’m not anti-hipster but this is incredibly dangerous. The colony shouldn’t be so close to kids," Corcoran told the Post.

Natalia Okolita and Andril Hrabynskyi, a husband-and-wife beekeeping duo that maintains the bee colonies in Bruce's Garden, told the Post that their bees are docile and that they have nothing to do with the wild colonies of yellow jackets that are responsible for the stings. The duo checks on their colonies in Bruce's Garden once a week.

NYPD Beekeeper Anthony Planakis weighed in and told the Post that the presence of the honeybees may be attracting yellow jackets, who feed on the bugs.

Read the full NY Post article here.