Beekeeper moves 50,000 honeybees from garage to zoo
"We thought this was a great opportunity to show people you can save bees rather than eradicate them."
"We thought this was a great opportunity to show people you can save bees rather than eradicate them."
"We thought this was a great opportunity to show people you can save bees rather than eradicate them."
Around 50,000 bees were found in an Avondale home while repairs were being made to the garage. It's estimated the colony was there for about 20 years.
Now, the bees are buzzing around their new home, just 2 miles away as the bee flies, at the Cincinnati Zoo.
It was a two-day project of safely vacuuming some of the bees into a box, cutting brood from the wall, framing said brood and transporting them all to the zoo.
One of the minds behind the rescue mission was beekeeper Dirk Morgan.
"We thought this was a great opportunity to show people you can save bees rather than eradicate them," Morgan told . "Over the last 20 years or more, there's been a significant decline. Colony collapse disorder, it could be argued, is due to a lot of reasons."
The decline has gotten so bad that some bees are on the endangered species list. The insects face a number of challenges.
"They face a variety of pests, they face things like mites, things like beetles," Morgan said.
A decline in the number of bees has a much bigger impact on humans that one might think.
"Honey bees are pollinators," said Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard. "Some people estimate as (much) as a third of the food that we eat here in America. And if you think of pollinators, which include not just honey bees but native bees, butterflies and a wide variety of things, it's the vast majority of the food we eat depends on those insects."
The bottom line: Fewer bees means less pollination for food growth.
The bee hives are visible at the zoo and they can be seen buzzing in and out of the boxes throughout the day.
What can you do to help protect the bees?
A few tips include planting in your yard and cutting your grass less.
If you come across a swarm of bees or a colony in your home, contact your local fire department which can get you in touch with local keepers.