UKIAH, Calif. (KNX) — In recent weeks, more than one thousand beehives with hundreds of thousands of dollars were stolen from almond orchards in California. Almond growers rent hives from apiarists to pollinate the state’s most valuable crop.
The largest theft involved 384 beehives taken from a field in Mendocino County. The state beekeepers association subsequently offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to their return.
“It’s hard to articulate how it feels to care for your hives all year only to have them stolen from you,” Claire Tauzer, whose family owns the stolen hives, wrote on Facebook, spreading word of the reward.
A day later, an anonymous tip led police to recover most of the hives and a forklift stolen from Tauzer’s family business at a rural property in Yolo County. One suspect was arrested in connection with the theft, according to the Associated Press.
Authorities also found frames used to hold honeycomb belonging to another beekeeper who lost 282 hives last year.
Apiarists have gone as far to place GPS trackers in the boxes that contain hives.
High demand for bees and substantial pollination fees — as much as $230 per year to rent a single hive — are possibly motivating the thefts.
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