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There was excitement in the air on Friday in north-western Washington state when approximately 250 million honeybees escaped from a commercial truck that had overturned.
The truck, which was transporting around 31,751 kilograms of honeybee hives, tipped over at about 4am near the Canadian border close to Lynden, according to the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office on social media.
It seems the driver failed to maneuver a tight turn adequately, leading to the trailer rolling into a ditch, explained county emergency management spokesperson Amy Cloud via email.
The driver was uninjured, Cloud said.
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 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.
The goal is to save as many of the bees as possible.
âThank 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,â the sheriff’s office post said.
The public was advised to avoid the area on Friday, and sheriff’s deputies dove into in their squad cars at times to avoid being stung.
Honeybees are crucial to the food supply, pollinating over 100 crops including nuts, vegetables, berries, citrus and melons.
Bees and other pollinators have been declining for years, and experts blame insecticides, parasites, disease, climate change and lack of a diverse food supply.
In 2018, the UN General Assembly sponsored the first World Bee Day on May 20 to bring attention to the beesâ plight.
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 standardised âemergency bee responseâ 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.
