{"id":142407,"date":"2026-01-21T01:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T01:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/142407\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T01:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T01:37:07","slug":"load-of-bees-spilled-during-crash-on-i-35-likely-headed-to-california-expert-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/142407\/","title":{"rendered":"Load of bees spilled during crash on I-35 likely headed to California, expert says"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 To say that a KSAT story last Friday about a spilled load of bees<\/a> near downtown has created a buzz is an understatement.<\/p>\n

Thousands of people have reached out to KSAT through social media since then, inquiring about those fierce flyers.<\/p>\n

The bees were cargo on an 18-wheeler that collided with a car on Interstate 35 near Interstate 10, in an area known as the Finesilver Curve.<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Police Department had to shut down the highway for hours afterward as the bees buzzed above the overturned big rig.<\/p>\n

A San Antonio Fire Department spokesperson said a driver was injured in the crash.<\/p>\n

He said that in order to reach the driver, firefighters had to calm the bees by spraying a small amount of foam onto the wreckage.<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday morning, none of the agencies involved could provide details on the fate of the bees.<\/p>\n

SAPD referred inquiries to the Texas Department of Transportation, which helped clear the highway.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, KSAT called upon a local bee expert, Johnny D, the owner of Johnny D\u2019s Bees.<\/p>\n

His south Bexar County company specializes in beekeeping, including honey production.<\/p>\n

From time to time, Johnny D said, he is also called to remove bees from areas where they may be congregating too closely to people.<\/p>\n

Johnny D said that during the height of the highway closure on Friday, he happened to be driving in the area along with his children, who are also beekeepers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was trying to focus on driving, and I was, like, \u2018What is this?\u2019 And yeah, easily millions of bees were on that truck,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Even with the quick glimpse, he said he recognized them as honeybees, likely of the Italian variety, and probably headed for California.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, the Sacramento Valley is bringing in bees from all over the country to pollinate crops, predominantly almonds,\u201d Johnny D said.<\/p>\n

He said I-35 is part of the route between California and Florida, the possible origin of the bees.<\/p>\n

The crash, though, may have been an unplanned final stop for them.<\/p>\n

Johnny D said crews addressing the crash scene may have had no choice but to put down the majority of the bees.<\/p>\n

He said that had they all been able to fly out into the nearby residential area, it could have put the lives of some people, particularly those with bee allergies, at risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way to round them up. You can\u2019t \u2018pied piper\u2019 them into a box,\u201d Johnny D said.<\/p>\n

Still, he believes a portion of the bees probably did escape and may be spotted later in the surrounding neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

However, as a rule, Johnny D said people should make any bees they encounter feel more at home because they play a vital role in everyday life.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoneybees are responsible for about one of every three bites of food we consume in the United States,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Related KSAT coverage:<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 To say that a KSAT story last Friday about a spilled load of bees near…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[71493,7,9,8,818,71494,71496,71495,821],"class_list":{"0":"post-142407","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-bees","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-headlines","11":"tag-california-news","12":"tag-downtown","13":"tag-finesilver-curve","14":"tag-interstate-10","15":"tag-interstate-35","16":"tag-traffic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}