A local beekeeper is feeling the sting after approximately $4,000
worth of bees and equipment were stolen from a Rutland Orchard. Patricia Springborn, who runs Silver Star Apiaries in Falkland with her husband, said that whoever stole the hives had planned the heist in advance. “We have four hives to a pallet and each pallet weighs between 500 and 600 pounds. We use a forklift to move them so they either must have had one (forklift) of their own or there were quite a few of them involved,” said Springborn, noting that the hives were not visible from the road and were tucked away in an orchard row. The population of bees in the Okanagan valley has followed recent worldwide trends and have dropped significantly in the last two years, making them a hot commodity for thieves. “Our pollination demands are way up, so it‘s clear that (bee) numbers have dropped quite a bit,” said Springborn. “We‘ve got really good strong bees so we haven‘t been affected by the drop yet.” During the spring season, beekeepers hire out their bees to orchards to pollinate their trees. Trees will not produce fruit if they are not pollinated in time. It has been a combination of factors that have led to the decline in bee numbers according to Ed Nowek, president of the Canadian Honey Council and owner of Planet Bee on Bella Vista Road. “We‘ve had high levels of varroa mites early in the season. If keepers didn‘t treat their hives for mites early enough there was substantial damage. The mites reproduce exponentially so timing is everything,” said Nowek. The hot weather early in the season has also contributed to the drop in the number of bees, withering flowers before bees have a chance to pollinate them. Nowek said that there will be a definite drop in honey production in the Okanagan this year as the region has suffered greater losses than other areas of B.C. In addition, the small number of hives available has meant that some apple orchards are under-pollinated. “You have to stay optimistic,” said Nowek when asked about his predictions for the future of the industry, “As an industry we‘re going to have to be more proactive in our approach to keeping the number of bees up.”
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