Half a Million Bees Perish in Dutch Fire Incident.
A beekeeper from the Netherlands has expressed dismay after his ten colonies were set ablaze in a public garden in the city of Almere, resulting in the death of an estimated half a million bees.
Harold Stringer mentioned that each hive housed a population of forty to sixty thousand bees, and the idea that anyone could kill them was horrific.
"It really hurts that my 10 hives have died," he told regional media.
Police in Almere, located to the northeast of Amsterdam, have requested witnesses after the arson attack on Tuesday evening in the city's picturesque Beatrixpark. They posted pictures of the blaze on social media.
The Netherlands authorities says that more than half of the nation's 360 species of bee are at threat of dying out, as the population of bees declines globally.
Mr Stringer said that police had informed him an accelerant had been employed to burn the colonies, which were placed on pallets in a forested area of the garden.
Almost none of the bees survived and he noted that he had doubt the perpetrator would be caught.
Fellow beekeeper a local beekeeper told Dutch radio that she had three bee colonies and planned to give him one of them.
For Mr Stringer, who looked after the colonies for about nine years, the incident means starting a new colony in the park from scratch.
But he insists he will not give up.
Similar Incidents
- A Million Bees Killed in Deliberate Hive Fire.
