
Vandals smash beehives, killing 500k bees - DoreenMichele
http://beta.latimes.com/food/sns-dailymeal-1865007-vandals-smash-beehives-kill-bees-wild-hill-honey-iowa-123017-20171230-story.html
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nkkollaw
This doesn't seem like vandals, but more a competitor or someone who wanted to
hurt them for something they did.

Destroying 50 beehives is a job.

~~~
LorenPechtel
My other thought was it was someone stung by a bee in the area.

~~~
firethief
It's winter. Someone was stung by a bee during bee season and has been stewing
until now? Besides, whose reaction to a bee sting is to anger half a million
more bees?

~~~
aitrean
You have to make sure they get the message the first time.

~~~
mruniverse
"When you strike at a queen, you must kill her."

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appleiigs
Smashing 50 beehives is a lot for plain vandalism. Smashing 1 or 2 you'd get
the haha, but you'd have to be particularly motivated to go after all 50.
Plus, you'd need at least some planning to not get stung.

~~~
krylon
> Plus, you'd need at least some planning to not get stung.

That is just what I was thinking.

Without a bee suit, attacking even a single bee hive seems like a very bad
idea. Last year, I got stung by a bee that got trapped under the straps of my
bike helmet, and it _really_ hurt. Plus, I had to remove the sting. And that
was just a single bee.

EDIT: Yeah, I did not take the winter into consideration. When I got stung, it
was summer. _facepalm_

~~~
kpil
It's winter, the bees were hibernating. They won't be able to fly for more
than a second or two in the cold if they were warm enough to get going.

~~~
Balgair
.

~~~
selectodude
It happened in Iowa.

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teraflop
I can't help but be reminded of this classic /r/legaladvice thread:

> My niece has gotten into veganism and animal rights. She basically destroyed
> a bee farm near where she lives by sneaking in there in the middle of the
> night, trying to release the bees and destroying all the hives and the
> honeymaking equipment [...] She is not 18 yet but the cops are going to
> charge her as an adult. They say she caused almost $100,000 in damage.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/3xalu0/texas_m...](https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/3xalu0/texas_my_niece_17f_purposely_destroyed_a_bee_farm/)

~~~
klenwell
Are bee farms a target of animal rights activists? That's the closest thing to
a credible motive I've come across for this incident so far. If so, the top
comment from that thread sums up my reaction:

> Of all the animals to "free," she chose... bees... The insects that
> basically go about a normal life in "captivity," except that they're more
> protected from predators and other issues that could cause them harm...

One of the top comments in that thread, however, calls it a troll:

> A clear villain, a moronic crime, a clueless OP, and a legal question that
> basically boils down to "can a person who is caught doing something illegal
> be punished for it". This posts checks all the boxes for a troll.

The fact that I never heard about that case, while this is at least the third
time I've come across this one (at half the damage) today, would appear to
support that hypothesis.

Perhaps the present incident is just another case of life imitating reddit?

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DiabloD3
If that company provides _any_ pollination services at all to local farms, the
$50k is nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands or even millions of
dollars of potential economic damage depending on what sort of crops they
assist with.

How much damage does it take to, say, get the FBI looped in on this?

~~~
briandear
It has to be a federal crime. If the bees where pollinating across state
lines, then there might be a case. An arbitrary dollar amount doesn’t make
something federal.

~~~
GunlogAlm
Really? I've heard of the FBI becoming involved in the investigation of a
crime seemingly due solely to its large monetary impact.

~~~
trisimix
Me too it was on x files

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afarrell
> because insurers don't offer beehive insurance

This surprises me. Is it just a matter of "nobody thought to get into this
market yet"? I'd thought this was the role that Lloyds of London already
played. If a bunch of Black churches from Alabama had access to Lloyds of
London back in 1956, what are the barriers to a farmer from Iowa in 2017?

~~~
breitling
Canadian here: the government offers insurance here for bees. It's not
particularly profitable, so the gov't had to pick it up as a service.

~~~
gruez
if it's not profitable, what they should do is raise the premiums, not
subsidize it by operating it at a loss.

edit: downvoters:

i'm all for the government running a insurance program if nobody is willing
to, but it shouldn't do it at a loss. subsidizing beekeepers distorts the
market to the detriment of other crops (that don't need bees for polination)
and other polination methods (humans? drones?). it's the same with free roads
subsidizing the trucking industry (trucks cause disproportionately more damage
to the roads compared to what they pay in taxes) to the detriment of other
transportation methods, and low cost flood insurance subsidizing housing in
flood zones to the detriment of low risk areas.

~~~
egypturnash
Why? Does every single human endeavor really need to make a profit for
someone? Can it not be possible that the Canadian government feels that a
Canada with beekeepers is better than one without, and has chosen to allocate
some of its money to make it a little easier to be a beekeeper?

~~~
Banthum
Not _every_ human endeavor has to make a profit. However, _most_ do have to
make a profit, otherwise total wealth decreases until we all starve to death.

If an activity doesn't make a profit, generally people unconnected with it
shouldn't be _forced_ to subsidize it unless there is a really good reason,
like specific and well-understood positive externalities to the activity.

I have no issue with people doing beekeeping (or skateboarding or painting or
snowshoeing) as a hobby. But I see no reason I should be forced to do more
work I don't want to do in order that someone else can do their hobby that
they do want to do.

~~~
lorenzhs
It's ironic that you're commenting on bee hive insurance, something that is
essential in nearly every kind of food production, by claiming that the state
offering it at a loss will lead to everyone starving to death.

If "bee populations are declining, we need bees to make food, we should
encourage people to keep bees by limiting the amount of risk they have to
take" isn't a really good reason, I don't know what is.

~~~
gruez
>we should encourage people to keep bees by limiting the amount of risk they
have to take

or you know, by the beekeepers charging more for the service. if pollination
is really that essential, they shouldn't have any problem getting farmers to
accept the price increases. otherwise it's just another subsidy that distorts
the marketplace (against other pollination methods, or crops that don't
require bee pollination)

~~~
caio1982
You can't possibly be comparing companies subsidized by the government and the
critical natural importance of bees. This can't be real.

~~~
rpenm
Honeybees are not native to North America. They actually may have a negative
impact on native species.

~~~
caio1982
Not only honey bees polinate crops. In fact there are thousands of bee species
around the world and particularly in Brazil, where they produce honey and the
european/african honeybees are non-native as well. I think we both can agree
that the Amazon and Atlantic jungles and rainforest managed to be polinated
just fine without the bees you talk about. When you consider only honeybees
you know in North America you are artificially restricting the problem that is
much more widespread.

~~~
lostlogin
When you plant tens of miles in each direction with a single crop that needs
to be pollinated at a specific time there is no way for native insects to
pollinate it well. Where would they live? What would they feed on the rest of
the time? It’s a green desert most the time then in need of massive
pollination for a short, sharp period. Bringing in hives or other forms of
pollination is how it gets done and it’s done this way because it works.

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lostlogin
The money raised is a fair bit more than the hives are worth, assuming
everything was destroyed (unlikely). At least some bases, lids, mats frames
and boxes are likely salvageable, and I’d guess most. Assuming the hives have
been properly wintered, they are currently small, so there wouldn’t have been
much gear out there. Paying absolute top dollar would get those hives replaced
would use about half that raised money. I had a look through Californian
supplier sites. Eg $320 for a complete hive at
[https://billsbees.com/products/bees-complete-
hive](https://billsbees.com/products/bees-complete-hive) However a hive is
unlikely to be needed, a $220 nuc would be fine, and could be split into 2 or
3 during the season quite happily and a decent beekeeper would be splitting
them fast, reducing the cost significantly. Decent hives here have been split
more than 20x this season (admittedly it’s a very good season).

It is interesting to see the costs as they aren’t too different from here,
though queens are cheaper in New Zealand, and buying boxes of bees to dump
into your hive isn’t a thing here.

As others have said here, why was it done? Hive vandalism is a thing all over
the world, but it’s usually a few hives knocked over or mass damage by stock.
Messing with 50 is unlikely to be much fun.

Edit: The story linked here isnt complete or very good. Yes, most the hive
equipment looks salvageable though the bees are now dead. However a storage
shed was broken into and vandalised, gear was smashed. Extractors and
processing equipment can be very expensive and it’s a hell of a mess in there.
The focus on the bees is likely because that’s what the beekeepers focused on.
Having 50 hives killed when you have nursed them from a frame or 2, saved from
disease, wintered etc would be heartbreaking. Yes, an extractor and store shed
could contain very expensive gear but it’s soulless steel and tools.

[http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/vandalism-destroys-
ha...](http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/vandalism-destroys-half-million-
bees-wipes-out-sioux-city-
honey/article_b883044a-8df8-5b54-95a8-46afcb6c8624.html)

[https://www.google.co.nz/amp/whotv.com/2017/12/29/vandals-
de...](https://www.google.co.nz/amp/whotv.com/2017/12/29/vandals-destroy-
beehives-killing-500000-bees/amp/)

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fencepost
What I like about this is that they made a point of closing the donations and
suggesting that people donate to other causes. They're not trying to ride this
for all they can get, they got enough to let them recover (and maybe a bit
more?) - and even if they did get a little more than absolutely required it's
not like it's "take the money and run" levels.

------
iokevins
Heartened by this:

"Since news of the vandalism got out, however, Go Fund Me efforts on Wild Hill
Honey's behalf have raised more than $35,000. Engelhardt posted to the
company's Facebook page that the money would allow them to rebuild and start
operating again in the spring."

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MollyR
Too many beehives to believe for pure vandalism. I could believe one or two.

Imagine someone tipping 50 cows, or spraying 50 buildings. The high amount
makes its weird.

~~~
jwilk
FWIW, it's an urban legend that you can (easily) tip a cow.

~~~
MollyR
I buy meat from a farm directly. According to a couple of farm hands, drunk
bored people still try.

~~~
rando444
The urban legend is that cows can't get back up on their own. Even if you
tipped a cow (or 50), the cows could still just stand right back up.

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averagewall
It's terrible that you can buy expensive security camera systems that still
store the data locally so thieves can steal the evidence too. Even an old
cellphone with motion detection and a cloud uploading app might have helped
identify the people.

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cfvergara
It really takes a special kind of asshole to go and do something like this. I
hope they are made to pay for this.

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shironineja
This is a thoughtless crime which obviously fills one with outrage on multiple
levels. I trust in the Iowa state police to locate the offenders.

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coldcode
I can't for the life of me think why anyone would think this is a good idea.
Bees perform a useful service and are not inconvenienced as this is what they
do anyway. Everyone wins. Then again there are people who don't care who gets
hurt.

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pubby
Perhaps the bees died to some other cause (e.g. a mistake related to the
cold), and the owners, fearing bankruptcy, embarrassment, smashed their own
hives in a last-ditch effort to save themselves.

~~~
jws
Possible… I'll go with the bees, after years of guilt for enslaving humans to
care for them realized the only way to free the humans was to kill themselves,
so they hired a hit from Craigslist to end their existence and free the poor
humans from a lifetime of servitude.

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sus_007
Just watched the last season of 'Black Mirror'\- the one episode with the Bees
on it. Incidents like these surely triggers persons like me to think that
somebody please start building artificial alternatives to bees and avoid the
Colony Collapse Disorder from happening.

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gigatexal
I feel bad for the bees.

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trisimix
Hope they hire security

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Kadin
I'd be interested to read a followup in the spring, about where the GoFundMe
money goes. Perhaps I am just cynical, but although it certainly could be
senseless vandalism, it also checks the boxes for a "bust out", wherein a
business is destroyed in order to obtain cash. Typically these are insurance
schemes, but the GoFundMe angle provides the same result.

I hope the press attention causes the police to focus investigatory attention
on it; I could imagine it simply being written off as a victimless property
crime and swept under the rug, as so many things are.

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starpilot
The cynicism on HN is just jaw dropping.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
There's no end of people who have such low morals they'll exploit any
situation for their personal gain; such cynicism (or realism) is born by
contact with such people and their actions.

People who would do the exploitation can also be inclined to expect others to
be sociopaths.

