BELLINGHAM, Wash. — There was a buzz in the air Friday in northwestern Washington state as about 250 million honeybees escaped a commercial truck that overturned.
The truck hauling an estimated 70,000 pounds of honeybee hives rolled over about 4 a.m. close to the Canadian border near Lynden, the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office said in social media posts.
It appears the driver did not navigate a tight turn well enough, causing the trailer to roll into a ditch, county emergency management spokesperson Amy Cloud said in an email. She said the driver was not injured.
A truck hauling an estimated 70,000 pounds of honeybee hives sits overturned Friday near Lynden, Wash.
Deputies, county public works employees and several bee experts responded to the scene. The box hives later came off the truck, and local beekeepers swarmed to help recover, restore and reset the hives, according to the sheriff's office.
The goal is to save as many of the bees as possible. The plan is to allow the bees to return to their hives and find their queen bee in the next day or two, according to the sheriff's office.
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"Thank you to the wonderful community of beekeepers: over two dozen showed up to help ensure the rescue of millions of pollinating honey bees would be as successful as possible," the sheriff's office post said.
The public was advised to avoid the area Friday, and sheriff's deputies dove into their squad cars at times to avoid being stung.
Honeybees are crucial to the food supply, pollinating more than 100 crops including nuts, vegetables, berries, citrus and melons. Bee and other , and experts blame insecticides, parasites, disease, climate change and lack of a diverse food supply.
On the eighth annual “World Bee Day” on May 20, about 400,000 bees in urban rooftop hives in Cologne, Germany, were busy at work making honey.
In 2018, the U.N. General Assembly sponsored the first "World Bee Day" on May 20 to .
Beekeepers often transport millions of bees from one location to another because leaving them in one location for too long can deplete resources for other pollinators, The Seattle Times reported.
Alan Woods, president of the Washington State Beekeepers Association, told the newspaper the state should have a standardized "emergency bee response" for bee vehicle crashes. In 2015, 14 million bees escaped a truck north of Seattle on Interstate 5 and started stinging people, the newspaper reported at the time.
The plight of bees and efforts to protect them
Threats to bees
Pictured: Bees congregate around their queen. Wealth of Geeks
Insecticides in recent years have come under fire for being toxic to humans and animals, as well as having unintended consequences for other insects.
For example, Fipronil is a broad-spectrum chemical insecticide that disrupts the insect central nervous system. It’s generally used to control ants, beetles, cockroaches, fleas, ticks, and termites. In 2018, it was confirmed that and that, when used, it contaminates the pollen they collect.
Unfortunately, the pesticide is still in wide use and last September in San Diego.
Other severe threats to colonies include – sometimes referred to as “murder hornets” — as well as several species of mites and numerous bacterium.
Although honey bees have seen a slight resurgence, their numbers are still down significantly. Native bees, responsible for most of the pollinating, have not seen this recovery.
Biologists have stepped in. They’re actively breeding bees exhibiting more resistance to the major factors responsible for the species’ decline.
, research leader at lab in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, explains. “We are breeding honey bees that are more efficient at processing nutrients in their food and are more resistant to pests, pathogens and pesticides. … Developing healthier and more productive honey bee colonies will help ease the effects of disease and climate change, and improve the food supply at local, national and global scales.”
