An enormous swarm of more than 20,000 honeybees was saved from certain death on Wednesday.
Valerie Massy, secretary of the Nanaimo Bee Club, was contacted by a concerned resident who spotted the swarming insects at the intersection of Fern Road and Boxwood Road.
When Massy arrived with club president Kathleen Silvey, the sky was black with bees.
Adorned in their bee suits and veils, the beekeepers waited for the bees to settle into a nearby tree.
They suspect the bees outgrew their old hive and were on the hunt for a place to build a new home. But without enough time to build up honeycomb and food stores for the winter, the bees would have likely died if they were not captured and moved to a manmade hive.
Gerald Scott, another bee club member, joined in the rescue attempt. The only bee they needed to get into their hive box was the queen bee, as the others would follow her.
Scott leaned a ladder against the tree and climbed about four metres until he was within reach of the swarm. The queen bee - and hundreds of worker bees - were on the last branch brought down.
The beekeepers waited an hour for the workers to follow the queen into the hive box. Silvey took the bees home to bee yard.
"It's my first successful rescue this summer," she said, adding that patience is key.
"The bees feed off your energy. If you're calm and gentle, so are they."
BEES IN TROUBLE
Beekeepers between Nanaimo and Victoria suffered massive losses three winters ago, losing as much as 90 per cent of their colonies.
Honeybees pollinate more than 100 crops, playing an important role in the province's $300-million agriculture industry. Bees are responsible for one-third of food production, which could suffer significantly if hive stocks continue to disappear.
Last year, the provincial government invested $25 million in Genome B.C., bringing its total contribution to the research organization to $75 million.
Approximately $8 million of that was earmarked for examining colony collapses.
"It's important to save the bees because they are essential for our survival, for our environment," said Nanaimo Bee Club president Kathleen Silvey, who has hive boxes in her backyard.
"I think our honeybees are showing us right now our environment is sick and that we're sick and if we don't pay attention we're going to be in big trouble."
