More than 100,000 bees have been
targeted by rustlers in the past month alone – and keepers fear the culprits
are from their own ranks
Saturday 23 September
2017 13.23 BSTLast modified on Saturday 23 September
2017 22.00 BST
There was a lump in Katie
Hayward’s throat as she spoke about the emotional impact of the thefts that
have cast a shadow over Britain’s beekeepers. “The heartbreaking thing is that
it’s a very close community. The fact that one beekeeper does this to another
is the hardest thing of all,” she says.
Two years have now passed since
Hayward’s farm in north Wales was raided, leading to the loss of tens of
thousands of bees. But the rustlers have continued to be active. Most recently
they have targeted
the property of one of her Anglesey neighbours, where
around 40,000 bees were taken last month.
The heists have continued in
other parts of the country, too. Earlier
this month police in Norfolk were called after five
hives thought to contain around 60,000 bees and £600 worth of honey were taken.
Other known raids this year in Britain have included one in Doncaster in April.
Suspicions among beekeepers that the culprits come from their own ranks were
underlined by the fact that a bee smoker was left at the scene by someone who
presumably knew that it could be used to calm the insects before taking them.
The problem is not restricted to
the UK, either. The thefts are of an entirely different magnitude in
California, where billions of bees are used to pollinate almond crops. But at
least in the Golden State there has been some progress by investigators, who
this summer arrested
a man accused of stealing almost $1m worth of hives.
Posts
