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Somebody Is Stealing All the Beehives

This is going to make a great movie someday

Urban beekeeping has grown in popularity in recent years and so, it seems, has another bee-related activity: stealing beehives. During peak pollination season in California this year, 1,734 hives have been filched. The victims, however, are not amateur beekeepers, but almond growers who ship in bees pollinate their orchards. The perpetrators are, of course, beekeepers, because nobody else knows how to deal with beehives (or, frankly, has much desire to go near them). "Someone who knows how to handle them can move 200 hives in a matter of minutes," says a detective at the Butte County Sheriff's Office, where hive thefts have doubled in the past year. Someday, and probably someday soon, this is going to make a great and weird heist movie.

Beekeepers Feel The Sting Of Stolen Hives [WGBH]