Stolen Bees

[Voyageur]

Back in early July, noted the following from Grand Prairie Alberta.

Millions of bees stolen from Alberta honey producer

_http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2012/07/05/edmonton-bee-theft.html#socialcomments

This was at the same time roughly that SotT featured an article (Mercola):

Is Monsanto Behind Stealing Local Hero's Bee Hives? 15 Years of Research Destroyed

_http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/05/monsanto-roundup-effects-on-honeybees.aspx?e_cid=20120705_DNL_artNew_1

Then the other day (Jul 30) noted this, again, about bees being stolen:

Hives containing 500,000 bees stolen in B.C.

_http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/07/30/bc-hives-stolen.html

Seems to be a trend going on and perhaps if these things are noticed in your part of the world, you can log them here to keep track of.

Thanks.

 

[loreta]

I don't know if bees are stolen here but let me tell you that this summer, and I live in the country, I did not see a bee, yet. Wasps yes, but not bees. So where are they! I love bees, they are so cute. But no bees... Very sad.

 

[Voyageur]

Darn important creatures, strange you've seen none - very sad indeed. :(

 

[loreta]

Darn important creatures, strange you've seen none - very sad indeed. :(

The problem also is that we did not have Spring... From Winter we fall directly, almost, to Summer. Maybe that can be the reason?

I remember a very sad song by Francis Cabrel that said something like that: I remember when I had honey on the table... and bees turning around... I never taught listening this song, many years ago, that one day I will be sad for the same reason.

 

[Deleted member 8431]

Bees are dissapearing at an alarming rate. We are talking about a massive extinction here. Billions of colonies.

Here in Québec, the blueberry cultivators in the Saguenay area have to actually import 53 footers of hives to pollinate their fields.

Now just try to immagine how delicate and hard it is to to that. It is what we could call real desperation.

So maybe that indeed some poeple are really that deseperate. Stealing bees to perhaps pollinate their own fields or produce honey. I can't see no other reasons.

 

[Gonzo]

I remember a few years ago (June 30, 2008), a story about a truck full of beehives overturning on the highway in New Brunswick (Canada). From the story and subsequent articles, I learned that there is a market for apiary operators to transport hives temporarily to areas lacking sufficient bees to pollinate crops.

Since that story, I have seen an increase in overturned trucks transporting bees. A google search for the terms "truck"+""overturned"+"bees"+"pollination" yields the following results for the following years:
2008: 22,000 results (http://tinyurl.com/bqofxsy)
2009: 27,500 results (http://tinyurl.com/c39ywgx)
2010: 40,700 results (http://tinyurl.com/9pxm6cv)
2011: 101,000 results (http://tinyurl.com/8mjzbn4)
2012*: 409,000 results (http://tinyurl.com/8ld6uz9)
*NOTE: Effective up to date of post 2012-8-10

I am going to consider the increase in accidents a result in an increase in bee hive transport, which, assumedly, reflects an increased need for pollinators. However, there could be other factors at play, including intentional 4D meddling to lower pollination potential. The increased accidents could be a form of universal expression of the plight of colony collapse disorder (CCD), which is being seen across the globe. As well, the increase of CCD and transportation accidents could be a symbolic of something broader.

Since nature had evolved to have pollinators required to ensure the continuous health and growth of certain plant species, pollinators represent a key ingredient in the circle of life, not just plant life, but the lives of those that eat the plants and those that eat them.

It is testimony to human arrogance to think that we can replace critical components of nature with technology, strictly for the benefit of humans, but at the expense of nature, and not think that such sins against creation would come back to bite (or sting) us in the rear ends.

It's no surprise the research that was being carried out at some of the apiaries that experienced theft was focused on examining the connection between certain genetically modified crops and CCD, as well as any connection between bee disappearance and herbicides, pesticides/insecticides. It's also no surprise the a major seed company bought out one of the world's largest bee research companies, Beelogics, which specializes in the study of CCD (_http://naturalsociety.com/monsanto-bee-collapse-buys-bee-research-firm/). The fox seems quite adept at infiltrating the security firms responsible for hen houses.

Gonzo

 

[Voyageur]

Now that you mention it, SotT had this article http://www.sott.net/articles/show/233004-Canada-Swarming-Bees-Close-Alberta-Highway and another one about Queen Bees (locked in Canada Post): http://www.sott.net/articles/show/230046-Canada-Post-Lockout-Puts-Bee-Colonies-at-Risk

Twenty-thousand queen bees are shipped every year in Canada, with June being the busiest month.

The father of someone know, a bee keeper in Saskatchewan; likely for GMO crops, said that he needed to replenish hives due to die-off last year, which cost something like 60K. Asked him about the die-off and it was indicated that it was a disease of some type and samples were taken for analysis. He later did not know the causation when asked. Got me thinking that this business may have a type of black market trade and we are starting to see larger scale examples, not sure.

[quote author=Gonzo]

It's no surprise the research that was being carried out at some of the apiaries that experienced theft was focused on examining the connection between certain genetically modified crops and CCD, as well as any connection between bee disappearance and herbicides, pesticides/insecticides. It's also no surprise the a major seed company bought out one of the world's largest bee research companies, Beelogics, which specializes in the study of CCD (_http://naturalsociety.com/monsanto-bee-collapse-buys-bee-research-firm/). The fox seems quite adept at infiltrating the security firms responsible for hen houses.

Gonzo
[/quote]

Everything these guys touch falls apart and is corrupted; yes, no surprise.

 

[Deleted member 8431]

I just found one of the theives! He usually goes by unoticed with his bee mask on but that time, he has been partly uncovered!

No worries though! I have hired a bouncer!

:P