Millions of honey bees killed in apparent poisoning

Millions of honey bees killed in apparent poisoning

www.orlandosentinel.com

MICCO — State officials are investigating to see how millions of honey bees were killed in Brevard County.

Several beekeepers in the county have reported lost colonies this week. Charles Smith of Smith Family Honey Company told Stuart News Thursday he lost 400 beehives. He says the bees appeared to have been poisoned.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is really strange for this to have happened to several beekeepers in one Florida county. The article goes on to say that state officials and the sheriff's office are trying to discover what type(s) of chemicals contributed to their deaths, but, as of now, it's a mystery.

Has this happened anywhere else that ATSers know about? I'll do my best to add updates as they come in.

www.orlandosentinel.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Edit to Add: Florida just passed an ordinance making it legal to sell local honey.

reply to post by Afterthought


chemtrails?

Local economic sabotage?
Monsanto grudge?
Industrial sabotage (competitors)?


Frankly, we need to see more details flowing in. It's a shame we can't hear from those victimized by this; but I guess their on-going investigation may be compromised by interviews....

reply to post by UniverSoul


That's exactly what I was thinking. They were really bad here (n. central FL) yesterday, but the past week has been unusually clear.

I'll be interested to hear what chemical(s) they blame for the deaths.

Is it possible that when they spray for mosquitoes, the spray also kills bees?

Would seem to make sense and the they do a LOT of that type of spraying in Florida.

reply to post by Afterthought


strange..seems like a real posibilty then
but there would be a million possible reasons
id say a disease is probably unlikely from the evidence we have..a disease this powerful would have wiped out a lot more bees because they fly out very far when collecting pollen, so it would spread very quickly.

i really want to hear more on this!

reply to post by Maxmars


Yes, we'll have to be patient and await the results.
The strange part is that the Orlando Sentinel is the only news source reporting this. I've checked all the other sites and have found nothing. Even the Florida Independent. Although, the Florida Independent is reporting on how Florida is joining the lawsuit against the EPA and their air pollution rules.
floridaindependent.com...

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced that Florida is joining a suit against the EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution rule, which aims to protect against fine particle pollution. Bondi briefly mentioned the suit during a speech she gave at Saturday’s Presidency 5 event, held in Orlando.

I can't stand Pam Bondi, but I'll be sure to be watching this too to see how it pans out.

reply to post by UniverSoul


Chemtrails are a good possibility. They have long been suspected of being linked to crop failures and bee colonies collapsing. To add merit to this theory, there have been several mentions of a drastic increase in chemtrails in Florida over the last couple weeks.

What ever is causing this we need to stop it. We need to stop messing win mother nature. We need birds, bees, and bats for pollination and insect control. Another suspect in these die offs is GMO crops.

reply to post by LearnedToPlayNice


Ah, yes, the wonderful mosquito sprayer trucks. I HATE THEM!!!
I was cooking a couple steaks on the grill last night when it came by. I hurried and put the cover on, but I still felt as though they had been contaminated by pesticide.

What is causing this is anybody's guess. My guess would be chemtrails or pesticides, too, but we'll just have to wait and see. I'd be interested to know if this is happening in any other states, too.
Inquiring minds want to know!

reply to post by Afterthought


how much farming goes on out that way?
could be getting some dud pollen..such as a plant with gm pesticide genes

I can't help but wonder, if there are large areas of crops planted with Monsanto seeds. Bees do travel to the nearest farms/orchards to collect honey, and pollinate. I am curious how this happened. Though it could very well be sabotage because of the passage of the new law, allowing the sale of locally produced honey.

If only it would kill my yellow jacket hive, I'll be happy. Omg, have they doubled.

Originally posted by LearnedToPlayNice
Is it possible that when they spray for mosquitoes, the spray also kills bees?

Would seem to make sense and the they do a LOT of that type of spraying in Florida.

If true, it would effect more than one county.

Instead, I think we should be looking at the specifics of these particular conditions. Soil...air quality.....water contamination.....recent biohazard....something along those lines. There is more than likely a common link. Sabotage is still on the table. If it was recently determined to be legal to sell local honey, what company/corporation stood to lose the most revenue from this decision?

reply to post by UniverSoul


Here's more info about Brevard County if you or anyone is interested in seeing where it is and what its major economic gains are. It's known as the Space Coast, too, since it includes Titusville and Cocoa Beach. NASA is in Brevard County.
en.wikipedia.org...

Here is info about the launches in regards to the best viewing locations:
www.nasa.gov...

Here's some info specifically about Micco, FL:
www.city-data.com...

Micco local news:
www.topix.com...
It does mention the bee deaths, but it has even LESS info.

I've been worried about this for over a decade. As a second generation exterminator I'm up to date with current methods and chemical compounds. One that came out in 2000 revolutionized the termite treatment business; Termidor. The active ingredient is called fipronil and the way it works is by being very low toxicity so social insects don't die immediately and spread the chemical throughout the colony, then by the time the first one to come into contact dies all the others are already contaminated. Ask any exterminator you guys know how the termite seasons have been the last few years and they will tell you it's now pretty much non-existent now. A few months into the use of this product we realized it worked just as well for ants and shortly thereafter the epa relabeled it for as much. But since then it is now legal to use above ground where other non-target insects can come into contact with it, like bees, also a social insect and in the same order as ants; hymenoptera. When we were first testing this in the late 90's Einsteins theory about bees disappearing shortly before humans kept coming to mind.

reply to post by ludshed


Thanks for contributing your experience and knowledge to this thread.
Your spidey sense may have been correct. Humans insist on erradicating everything they deem a nuisance, but in turn, we are going to destroy ourselves.

Originally posted by LearnedToPlayNice
Is it possible that when they spray for mosquitoes, the spray also kills bees?

Would seem to make sense and the they do a LOT of that type of spraying in Florida.

As a beekeeper I will tell you that yes the mosquito spray does kill bees.
They have ways around this though.
In most places if you call and tell them that you are beekeeper they will enter your address and gps location into the computer.
The trucks they use to spray are automated and the sprayer will shut off before it reaches your address and start again once it passes.
They are also only supposed to spray in the late evening when honeybees and other pollinators are settling in for the night.

In my opinion for this to have happened to so many hives across the county, it had to be deliberate.
We have had cases in my area of people tipping hives and soaking them in gasoline.
Some people just have a phobia about bees.
I have only been stung a handfull of times and usually don't where any protective clothing when checking my hives. If I do get stung most of the times its because of something I did, not the honeybees.
Quad

reply to post by Quadrivium


Thanks for your input!
In regards to the mosquito sprayer, I don't see how shutting the poisonous mist off as they're passing the residence would stop it from floating onto the property. This just seems like a half assed measure to keep beekeepers happy and stop them from complaining. It also would be a great defense in court.

They have been spraying A LOT here since the blind mosquitos (that don't even bite) have been horrible this year.

Since you're in the industry, please let us know if anything strange happens where you live.

Here's a better article with a picture:
www.tcpalm.com...

But the Fellsmere resident said there was no need Thursday, three days after he discovered the colony had been poisoned. State bee inspector Jerry Cruise said he had never seen comparable devastation at a bee colony.

"I'll never get completely compensated for this unless someone handed me 400 beehives," Smith said as he scooped dozens of insect carcasses into his hands. "I lost the bees, the ability to make honey and the ability to sell the bees."

The case is being investigated by state agricultural officials and the Brevard County Sheriff's Office. Although Smith has 30 bee sites between Brevard and Palm Beach counties, he lost $150,000 with the death of the bees at the Babcock site and from a couple of other nearby colonies this week.