Teen and Rescued Bumblebee Are Inseparable
A teenager recently rescued a bumblebee, and says it’s now a loyal pet that doesn't want to leave her side. The bee follows her everywhere, to such an extent that it sleeps in a jar beside her bed.
It all started when 13-year old Lacey Shillinglaw was walking her dog in Coventry, West Midlands, where she lives. She spotted a large fuzzy bumblebee lying in the road. She scooped up the bee and noticed one of its wings was crumpled.
She tried to place the bee in a safer location on flowers in a nearby park, but the bee refused to stay put. It buzzed back to Lacey and crawled all over her. After an hour she stopped trying to shoo it away, and headed home. The little bee was perched on her shoulder.
Despite several attempts to leave the insect outdoors, Lacey's new buzzy friend refused to fly away. Now recovered from her injury, Lacey named her Betty. The bee follows her to stores and stays with Lacey even while she plays games at the local bowling alley with 14 of her friends.
Betty remained perched on Lacey during both games—for more than two-and-a-half hours.
This 3:29-minute video by SWNS lets us all view the heartwarming relationship between Lacey and Betty:
The bee makes Lacey happy and she loves to spend time with the fluffy creature. She loves the special friendship that has evolved between them.
Betty even perches on Lacey’s glasses when she stops at the local shop on her way home to buy milk, and shoppers seem to be shocked.
The insect nibbles on Lacey’s food, but is also fed honey, sugar water, and strawberry jam. Lacey takes her bee into the garden for a flower nectar feast, but when she is ready to go back inside, Betty buzzes up and is right beside her.
Lacey tucks Betty inside a little jar beside her bed every night. There is no lid, but the insect stays there until morning.
During the daytime, Betty buzzes around the living room and intermittently nestles inside Lacey's sleeve, or on the back of her neck. Betty even allows Lacey to stroke her between her wings, but she stays away from mom, dad, and the two younger siblings.
Lacey's mom, Laura, says the bee is on Lacey around 90% of the time, whether it is her glasses, hair, face, or between her toes. She finds this unique friendship gorgeous and bonkers all at the same time. Betty climbs around in Lacey’s long hair as if it is a jungle.
Laura wonders why the little bee has never flown away, since they have the doors open a lot in the house.
Bumblebees can sting repeatedly without dying, unlike honeybees. Betty has never stung her best friend.
This is similar to a different story we shared in a blog post about a lady in Scotland who rescued a bee and bonded with her. You can read it here, A Wee Bee and Her Lady.
Lacey realizes that Betty is an amazing creature and that this unique friendship is a rare gift. She says she will remember this experience for the rest of her life.
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