200,000 Honey Bees Killed in Prunedale

KSBW ^ | Jan 17, 2018 | Sierra Starks

[nickcarraway]

A bee killer toppled 100 beehives in Prunedale and sprayed hundreds of thousands of honey bees with gasoline over the weekend.

The honey bees were being kept on Mike Hickenbottom's Prunedale property along Eacho Valley Road during the winter. The bees are owned by a man who lives in the Central Valley, where it's too cold during winter months, and they like feeding from eucalyptus trees that flower on the Central Coast during this time of year.

Advertisement Hickenbottom believes his neighbors were behind the incident, partially because they had complained to him three times.

The bees are allowed to fly freely around the property, and Hickenbottom's neighbors said their children were too scared to go outside.

Hickenbottom said the Italian and Russian honey bees are not aggressive.

"I go up around the bee boxes without any protective clothing on. I've never been stung," he said.

​Beekeeper Alfonzo Perez​ KSBW Beekeeper Alfonzo Perez The vandals struck sometime between 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday.

"Somebody came here, and tipped over all the boxes, and sprayed them with diesel fuel. It killed a whole bunch of bees," beekeeper Alfonzo Perez.

An estimated 200,000 bees died.

Perez leases the hives to pollinate almond trees growing on farms across Californian.

The bee killing cost Perez more than $50,000, a huge chunk of his annual salary.

"I just feel really bad for Alfonzo because he work so hard to support his family. Then somebody goes and does something like this," Hickenbottom said.

DONATE: If you want to donate to beekeeper Alfonzo Perez, click here

A police report was filed with the Monterey County Sheriff's Office. No arrests have been made.

[Keyhopper]

Started when I was 12 years old and worked them for 12 years. Ended up with 60 hives in the end.

[clearcarbon]

"200,000 Honey Bees Killed in Prunedale"

"There's been a disturbance in the Force." - Ben Keno bee.