This past weekend, South Carolina’s honey bee population began to die in huge numbers. The Washington Post is reporting:
Death came suddenly to Dorchester County, S.C. Stressed insects tried to flee their nests, only to surrender in little clumps at hive entrances. The dead worker bees littering the farms suggested that colony collapse disorder was not the culprit — in that odd phenomenon, workers vanish as though raptured, leaving a living queen and young bees behind.
Instead, the dead heaps signaled the killer was less mysterious, but no less devastating. The pattern matched acute pesticide poisoning. By one estimate, at a single apiary — Flowertown Bee Farm and Supply, in Summerville — 46 hives died on the spot, totaling about 2.5 million bees.
Kristina Solara Litzenberger posted photos and this statement on her Facebook page.
For those that do not know, the Summerville, SC and Honeybee Community suffered a great loss today from the aerial spraying of a chemical referred to as NALED. NALED is a toxic organophosphate (See Below for more information).
Flowertown Bee Farm and Supplies lost over 2.5 MILLION bees- 46 hives! When I went out to meet with Nita Mae, it was like visiting a cemetery, pure sadness. Most of her hives were rescued hives and her mission is to help with the already dwindling honeybee population. This is a total loss for her business and mission!
Clemson University took soil and honey samples and hopes to be able to learn more about why the bees died.
Registered bee owners are supposed to be warned prior to mosquito spraying but were not told this time.
We spoke to bee keepers who say they were devastated to see their colonies dead.
“I was angry that day, I just couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that we spray poison from the sky, said bee owner Andrew Macke.
The bee keepers are trying to be optimistic about what’s happened, hoping that this accident will be a stepping stone towards safer and smarter practices.