Half a Million Honeybees Killed in Netherlands Fire Incident.
A beekeeper from the Netherlands has voiced dismay after his 10 beehives were burned down in a park in the central city of Almere, causing the death of an approximated half a million bees.
The beekeeper mentioned that each hive contained a population of 40-60,000 bees, and the idea that someone could destroy them was horrific.
"It is deeply painful that my ten colonies have perished," he informed regional media.
Police in Almere, which sits to the northeast of Amsterdam, have appealed for observers after the arson attack on Tuesday evening in the city's picturesque Beatrixpark. They shared images of the fire on online platforms.
The Dutch government says that over 50% of the country's 360 species of bee are at threat of dying out, as the number of bees declines around the world.
The beekeeper explained that police had informed him an accelerant had been employed to burn the colonies, which were sitting on pallets in a wooded part of the garden.
Almost none of the bees survived and he noted that he had doubt the perpetrator would be caught.
Fellow beekeeper Heleen Nieman told Dutch radio that she had three bee colonies and planned to give him a colony.
For Mr Stringer, who cared for the bees for about almost a decade, the fire means starting a new colony in the park from scratch.
But he insists he will not give up.
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