DEKYAS NEWS World Breaking News and Trusted Source
Related Articles
Two weeks ago, Dawn Lalonde of Mikkola Family Farm & Apiary in Lively, Ontario, was doing a routine check on one of her apiaries when she noticed something was amiss.
Normally she hears the millions of bees in her 40 or so colonies buzzing around and around. But that day there was only silence.
“The only way to describe it is apocalyptic creepy,” she said.
According to Lalonde, there were no signs of disease or pests. In addition, an inspection conducted in late May by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture found her hives and bees to be in good health.
But on that day, piles of dead bees lay scattered across the grounds, some still alive but suffering and barely moving. In total, 50 percent of her colonies had died, which equates to about 1.2 million bees.
“I kept blaming myself, I thought it was my fault, that I had done something wrong,” Lalonde said.
But the sudden and violent nature of the deaths, combined with conversations with other local beekeepers, led her to conclude that something in the environment could be the cause.
“It was an acute death, probably caused by some chemical agent used in the area,” she said.
What that chemical might be and where it came from are questions that can only be answered through autopsies and laboratory testing of samples.
Lalonde plans to do so once she raises enough money through her GoFundMe campaign.
“There are a lot of different chemicals and products on the market right now,” she said, adding that she hopes the results of the tests can help identify and eliminate the source of the problem.
‘The canary in the coal mine’
Doug Tompsett of Douglas Apiaries in the neighbouring community of Whitefish in northeastern Ontario is concerned about what has happened to his fellow beekeeper and her animals.
His 80 hives were inspected the day before Lalonde’s, in early May, and both received a health certificate.
“And here we are two weeks later, my hives are growing steadily and hers have almost gone down to nothing,” he said. “It’s definitely something that’s concentrated in her area.”
Tompsett said if this had happened to other livestock, the general public would be alarmed.
“If you post a picture of a field full of dead cows, it will spark a conversation. But a bunch of empty boxes won’t get the same reaction,” he says.
He says what happened at the Mikkola Family Farm & Apiary should be of concern to everyone in the province and beyond, as he believes it is a signal that something is wrong with the environment.
“The bees are the canary in the coal mine,” Tompsett said. “We have a unique view of the world … because we see what’s happening to them, we’re constantly watching them.”
Beekeepers’ association speaks of a year with heavy losses
Ian Grant, president of the Ontario Beekeepers Association, said mortality rates among beekeepers are particularly high now that winter is behind us.
“Unfortunately, we have heard a lot about big losses in the beekeeping sector this year and we cannot attribute this to a specific problem,” he said.
He added that it is unfortunate that the tests can only take place through a user-pays system.
Grant believes that education plays an important role in preventing bee deaths from chemicals used in agriculture and other purposes.
“We all need to do our part by becoming less dependent on those chemicals. After all, we are putting something into the environment that does have an impact on other species.”
