500,000 Honeybees Killed in Dutch Deliberate Blaze.
A Dutch beekeeper has voiced shock after his 10 beehives were burned down in a public garden in the central city of Almere, causing the loss of an approximated 500,000 bees.
Harold Stringer stated that each hive contained a population of forty to sixty thousand bees, and the idea that someone could kill them was devastating.
"It really hurts that my ten colonies have perished," he told regional media.
Police in Almere, which sits to the northeast of Amsterdam, have appealed for witnesses after the deliberate fire on Tuesday evening in the city's picturesque Beatrixpark. They posted images of the blaze on social media.
The Netherlands authorities reports that more than half of the country's 360 types of bee are at risk of dying out, as the population of bees declines globally.
The beekeeper said that authorities had told him an flammable substance had been employed to ignite the colonies, which were sitting on pallets in a forested area of the park.
Barely any of the insects made it through and he noted that he had little faith the arsonist would be apprehended.
Another apiarist a local beekeeper told Dutch radio that she had three bee colonies and wanted to give him one of them.
For Mr Stringer, who looked after the bees for about almost a decade, the fire means starting a fresh hive in the park from scratch.
But he affirms he will continue his efforts.
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