California Highway Patrol rounds up queens, workers
Accident leaves beehives strewn across highway
Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime
The California Highway Patrol drafted in apiarists and Romanians this weekend after a truckload of beehives toppled on Highway 99, leaving 440 colonies strewn across the freeway.
The commuting workers, and their queens, were set loose when the truck flipped over on the on-ramp to the highway heading north, toppling the palletes carrying the hives. The bees were thought to be heading North to Washington State, after a stint working the almond Orchards of California’s central valley.
According to local paper the Sacramento Bee, the California High Patrol drafted in Jesse Young, a 66-year-old former beekeeper, together with a "a couple of pretty strong boys who were beekeepers in Romania” to sort out the resulting apiarian pile-up.
Young told the paper the colonies would have to be re-sorted to make sure each had a queen, before they could head back up the free way. He predicted this would be done in the nearest prune or apple orchard. Those bees which did not survive the accident were simply swept up.
The paper said it had trouble getting more information about the pile-up, as the onsite CHP spokesman was attacked by a bee in his car.
The truckload of hives was apparently worth around $75,000. However, this figure belies the importance of the load as the US continues to grapple with the mysterious phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder, which has caused the loss of large numbers of bees in the US. While this may seem a small problem it actually presents a major issue, given that agriculture relies on bees to pollinate crops. Britain’s beekeepers are demanding the government pump £8m into researching the problem, while Häagen-Dazs is stumping up $250,000 for US academics to look into it. ®
COMMENTS
To bee, To Sheep, To Turkey
I can imagine a truck load of bees overturning. But here in Virginia we have transport trucks with Chickens, and Turkeys. Nothing is worse than following a Chicken or Turkey semi - truck in 90 degree heat in the summer time.
Feathers flying everywhere (these are wiremesh cages - trucks have no sides, tops or bottoms). Bird shit dropping on the windshield. The smell alone is enough to want to vomit even when inside the car.
Last year alone, I had to wash Turkey shit off the car (a white wagon) at least three times- due to extensive travel in the Western half of Virginia on I-81, and I64.
Now imagine 1000+ turkeys on a farm near the highway, in 90 degree heat in the summer time - we have that here in Virginia also.
I think I would prefer the bees any day. Even when I got stung 6 times last year by Hornets that were almost 2 inches in size.
I stand corrected
THe spill happened in Sacramento. A few queens there in fact there is a whole strip for them.
Yes the cher CD's are mine
Where's the IT angle?
Please refile the article in the Bee2Bee section.
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner
Requirements Checklist for Choosing a Cloud Backup and Recovery Service Provider
Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime
SaaS data loss: The problem you didn’t know you had
