Half a Million Bees Perish in Dutch Arson Attack.
A beekeeper from the Netherlands has voiced shock after his ten colonies were burned down in a park in the central city of Almere, causing the loss of an estimated 500,000 bees.
Harold Stringer mentioned that every colony housed a colony of forty to sixty thousand bees, and the thought that anyone could destroy them was horrific.
"It really hurts that my ten colonies have perished," he informed regional media.
Police in Almere, which sits to the northeast of Amsterdam, have requested observers after the deliberate fire on Tuesday night in the city's picturesque Beatrixpark. They shared images of the blaze on social media.
The Dutch government reports that over 50% of the country's 360 species of bee are at risk of extinction, as the number of bees decreases around the world.
Mr Stringer explained that police had informed him an accelerant had been used to burn the colonies, which were placed on pallets in a wooded part of the park.
Almost none of the bees made it through and he noted that he had little faith the perpetrator would be apprehended.
Fellow beekeeper a local beekeeper stated on national radio that she had three hives and wanted to donate one of them.
For Mr Stringer, who looked after the bees for about almost a decade, the incident means starting a new colony in the area from scratch.
But he affirms he will not give up.
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