Millions of angry bees get loose after truck crash on I-5 in Washington state
An unfortunate truck accident early Friday morning unleashed millions of angry bees on a Washington state interstate.
At 3:30 a.m., the bee-loaded truck merged onto Interstate 5 north of Seattle when it tipped over on its side. The truck's cargo of 458 hives spilled onto the highway, which聽. The driver was not harmed in the accident.
Why was a truck hauling millions of bees to begin with? As it turns out, this is a regular occurrence, and one that may shed light on the fragile health of US bee populations.
Many of the bees were crushed in the early-morning accident, but as day broke and the temperature rose, the surviving bees became agitated. Firefighters came to the scene to hose the bees with a foam, killing more of the insects.
Beekeepers from Belleville Honey and Beekeeping Supply, located in Burlington, Wash., attempted to salvage as many insects as possible. The . The truck wreckage could not be removed from the highway until the bees were removed.
Migratory beekeeping contributes greatly to American agriculture.聽聽鈥� approximately 31 billion bees 鈥撀爐o California alone聽between October and February to pollinate almond fields.
Today, most revenue in beekeeping does not come from honey production. According , many beekeepers make at least half of their annual income from renting their hives for crop pollination. With different regions requiring bees at a different times, they can travel the country, providing assistance for agriculture. Without massive honeybee help, the US would be out a third of its crops, including broccoli, blueberries, avocados, raspberries, cherries, apples, melons, and lettuce.
While they travel across the country for their seasonal pollinating, migratory bees still need to survive the winter. And this is where the population is running into problems. Beginning in the 1990s, the number of bees surviving the winter months began to decline, due to a mysterious phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder. Because CCD can be caused by multiple factors 鈥� bee diet, environmental factors and viruses 鈥� it has been difficult for beekeepers to address bee loss every year. In 2013, .
Dr. Greg Hunt, a honeybee expert at Purdue University, says that data has not been released for 2015, but bee losses look to remain steady.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been seeing about 30 percent loss in an average winter,鈥� 鈥淭he winter before last was particularly bad and got a lot of attention, but things have been bad for a while.鈥�
Little research has been done on the effects of transportation on bees and its relation to CCD. One study published in the entomology journal Psyche suggests聽 that affect their ability to raise the next generation of worker bees.
Seth Thompson of Belleville Farms said the Washington crash was a crushing blow. The company owns about 8,000 hives in total, and . Thompson said thankfully they were able to save a number of them.
鈥淲e saved 128 hives before the sun came up and it got too nice,鈥� . 鈥淭his is 400 [of our hives]. It鈥檚 a bad deal鈥攁 couple hundred thousand dollars for sure.鈥�
This article contains reporting from the Associated Press.
