CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – It's an animal lovers worst nightmare to watch a four-legged family member suffer, and being unable to stop it.
That's what happened to a Coral Springs woman. Debbie Lundberg told Local 10 a swarm of killer bees attacked her and her small dog, killing her beloved Sofie.
"I don't know where they came from, I don't know if they came from the ground, came from the trees, just all of a sudden," said Lundberg.
Lundberg says it happened so quickly, she and Sofie didn't have a chance to escape.
"She was covered from head to toe," she said.
On Wednesday, she was walking her beloved pet past a grassy area, near Atlantic and Coral Springs Drive, when the bees suddenly attacked.
"The dog was running around and before I knew it she was covered in bees, and they started attacking me as well. I tried to brush them off of her but I couldn't so all I could do is run and run with her," she said.
Lundberg immediately ran home and put Sofie in the pool to get the bees off of her. Almost instantly, Sofie turned lethargic and started to vomit. The poison from hundreds of bee stings was too much for the 18-pound poodle mix. Sofie was dead within hours.
Lundberg wasn't hurt, but wanted to share her story to make others aware of how quickly these insects attack.
"Where did they come from, I don't know," she said.
There is speculation that the swarm of bees may be Africanized honey bees, which can only be determined if one the bees is sent to a state lab to be tested.