500,000 Honeybees Killed in Netherlands Arson Attack.
A Dutch beekeeper has expressed shock after his 10 beehives were set ablaze in a public garden in the city of Almere, resulting in the loss of an estimated half a million bees.
Harold Stringer mentioned that every colony housed a population of forty to sixty thousand bees, and the thought that someone could destroy them was horrific.
"It really hurts that my 10 hives have perished," he told regional media.
Police in Almere, which sits to the northeast of Amsterdam, have requested observers after the deliberate fire on Tuesday night in the city's scenic Beatrixpark. They posted pictures of the blaze on online platforms.
The Netherlands authorities says that more than half of the nation's 360 types of bee are at risk of dying out, as the number of bees decreases globally.
The beekeeper said that authorities had informed him an flammable substance had been employed to ignite the colonies, which were sitting on pallets in a wooded part of the garden.
Barely any of the insects survived and he said that he had little faith the perpetrator would be apprehended.
Another apiarist Heleen Nieman stated on Dutch radio that she had three hives and wanted to donate a colony.
For the beekeeper, who looked after the bees for about almost a decade, the incident means starting a new colony in the area from scratch.
But he insists he will continue his efforts.
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