Andy Strehlow felt a deep and acquainted sting when he noticed the beehives had been lacking.
Simply days earlier than, the bees had been trucked greater than 1,700 miles from his bee farm in South Dakota to a sprawling almond orchard close to Firebaugh in Fresno County. He’d unpacked the containers — 416 hives housing thousands and thousands of buzzing bees — and positioned them strategically across the property so his bees may work their magic, pollinating the almond blossoms in time for a late-summer harvest.
Three days later, on Jan. 31, he sensed a spot — a dismaying silence the place bees ought to have been energetic — and it didn’t take him lengthy to understand 96 hives had been lacking, openly kidnapped someday within the night time.
“I felt violated,” mentioned Strehlow, a business beekeeper who has grown Strehlow Bees Inc. into one of many largest beekeeping operations within the U.S. “Fairly doubtless it’s one other beekeeper, and that’s what actually stings about it: beekeepers stealing from different beekeepers.”
And it wasn’t the primary time his hives had gone lacking. Within the 25 years he’s been elevating bees, Strehlow estimates he’s had near 1,000 hives stolen. It was time, he thought, to take a stand.
So Strehlow is promoting a $100,000 reward for info on the bee thief — about 3 times greater than the 96 hives are value. He’s hoping that sizable sum is sufficient to get somebody near the perpetrator — a spouse, sister, brother — to show him in.
“It’s not simply me, however for my associates,” Strehlow mentioned. “It’s extra necessary to get the man discovered simply in order that he could be stopped.”
Late winter is a vital time of 12 months for beekeepers and the Central Valley orchards that lease their companies. Pollination of the huge acreage devoted to almonds alone requires many thousands and thousands of bees. In Fresno County, the place almonds have lengthy been a high crop, yielding greater than a billion {dollars} in annual income, bees are an necessary asset within the native financial system.
However that high-value demand additionally creates a lurking hazard for legit beekeepers, who may spend a complete 12 months gearing up for the pollination season. Too usually, February can also be a time when criminals are likely to strike, taking beehives to promote or lease to keen farmers who could not understand the bees are stolen.
There have already been almost a dozen reviews of bee theft this 12 months, involving tons of of hives in Fresno, Madera, Glenn and Butte counties, in response to knowledge compiled by the California State Beekeepers Assn.
About two miles from the Fresno orchard the place Strehlow’s hives went lacking, beekeeper Andy Beld had 96 hives stolen the identical night time, someday between 5:30 p.m. and daybreak the following day. Beld informed Fresno County sheriff’s deputies he’d seen a Chevy 3500 flatbed truck with a red-and-yellow sticker and a yellow Hummerbee forklift each idling close by as he moved his hives. Strehlow suspects the identical one that focused Beld’s hives hit him and different beekeepers working within the county.
Whereas the sheriff’s division has not recognized any suspects within the rash of thefts, they think the perpetrator is somebody with information of beekeeping, together with the right way to deal with and transport hives, mentioned Tony Botti, public info officer for the Fresno County Sheriff’s Workplace.
“It’s a constant factor we cope with,” Botti mentioned. Most occasions, their investigations hit a lifeless finish.
Folks unfamiliar with beekeeping may assume kidnapping energetic hives poses a excessive threat of being stung. However hive thefts can occur shortly and quietly. Working at night time, when bees are dormant, the thieves wouldn’t must put on protecting gear that may make them stand out. Using a forklift could make pilfering a lot of boxed hives a straightforward half-hour turnaround. The stolen hives can lease for wherever from $150 to $200 apiece, bringing a profitable payday.
Whereas business beekeepers sometimes engrave their boxed hives with their names or enterprise logos, thieves usually discard the unique containers or repaint them with one other emblem. So some beekeepers are turning to GPS monitoring gadgets and surveillance cameras to search out their hives.
Wire Anderson, a third-generation Montana beekeeper who works in Madera and Fresno counties throughout pollination season, is able to be a part of that development. Final week, he found 108 beehives lacking from a Fresno County orchard he’s servicing. He mentioned the theft will imply $40,000 in misplaced earnings.
“It hurts. It’s robust on the business,” Anderson mentioned. “It will be very good if we may catch these guys and put this to a cease.”
Anderson mentioned he doesn’t have the sources to supply the sort of reward Strehlow is floating. However he’s glad somebody is taking a stand.
“Nearly all of a beekeeper’s income is pollination, and it takes a complete 12 months of labor and funding to have your bees able to go this time of 12 months,” he mentioned. “In an hour, [thieves] are available and money out in your funding.”
