Canadian authorities are racing to catch five million bees spilling onto roads

CNN
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Authorities scrambled to capture five million bees that were released yesterday, after a truck carrying several boxes of beehives fell on a road in Ontario, Canada, Halton Regional Police Officer Ryan Anderson told CNN.

Halton Regional Police received a call shortly after 6 a.m. Wednesday after straps tied to beehive boxes became loose and caused a spill, releasing millions of bees onto the road in Burlington, Anderson told CNN by phone.

Burlington is located south of Toronto. The city is located on the shores of Lake Ontario between Toronto and Niagara Falls, according to what she says website.

After police involvement A social media post warns residents About six or seven local beekeepers volunteered to help return the bees to safety and vehicles to stay out of the area, Anderson said.

“Within two hours, the majority of the bees were safely back in their hives in their boxes, and were safely loaded back onto the trailer,” Anderson said.

A local Canadian beekeeper was one of the volunteers who helped catch some of the five million bees.

Michael Barber, who owns Tri-City Bee Rescue in nearby Guelph, said he received a call from police around 7 a.m. Wednesday to help rescue the bees.

The honeybees were moved after being used locally for pollination, Barber told CNN by phone.

Normally at this time of year, beekeepers are working to bring bees back into their winter yard, Barber said.

“In this case, they would come out of the farmer’s field before they harvested their crops, and take them to their yard,” he said.

“There were probably about 40 beehives on the trailer, and about 20 hives deviated from the trailer because [the driver] “He was trying to avoid hitting a deer,” Barber added. “Once I arrived at the scene, I was speaking with the beekeeper who was involved in the incident, and asked him how we could best help.” [we came] With a plan.”

After the nearly four-hour ordeal, several boxes were left on the side of the road in hopes that the remaining bees that took off would return to their queen in the hive and be collected later, Anderson said.

Police say the beekeeper was stung repeatedly, but there were no serious injuries after the bees swarmed in the area.

“The initial beekeeper on scene was stung multiple times,” Anderson said.

Police were unable to provide further details about why and where the bees were moved, but Anderson said it was not uncommon for bees to be moved to help farmers with pollination.

Anderson said it was a team effort from residents, officers and local beekeepers to clear the road and allow everyone to get to their destination safely.

“Everyone kind of pitched in,” Anderson said. “I was told that even some locals helped, whether they were locals or passers-by.”

“It was a team effort from residents and beekeepers that resulted in the site being cleaned up as safely and as quickly as we could hope for.”

Barber said it was sad to see the number of bees that died due to the accident, but the helping hands provided by the local beekeeper group were a beautiful show for the community.

“It was sad to be at the scene and see the carnage and the amount of dead bees on the road,” Barber said. “But it was really nice to see all the beekeepers coming out inviting, just trying to help.“